Yavin University
by NedeserThul
Summary: A group of college students from all walks of life become unlikely friends as they struggle to pass courses, have a social life and do all the normal things that college kids do.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay so, a little explanation to this real world-type AU - in my other works, there is a lot of heavy stuff about to happen: A huge battle on Dathomir (COMJ), Des and Nadia are about to jump back into the war (TOTB), Moira and Corso are still figuring stuff out on Taris (SW: DT) and, yes, Malavai Quinn and Gira are still making malignant plans to hunt down the Jedi's two greatest champions. Therefore, I decided a little bit of a lighter-hearted change wouldn't be amiss. It's still Star Wars, just in this world - kinda. Enjoy. Please read and review.**

Mara Jade rolled her eyes as she hoisted her book bag more comfortably onto her shoulders. World Religions Class was, without a doubt the most boring thing she had ever been through and she still had three quarters of a semester to go. And here, her legal guardians, she refused to call the disgustingly wealthy old man and his gold digging mistress parents, had told her this would be fun. At least old man Sheev Palpatine was kind and she did like living there but it was good to get out for school.

When she got to her next class and found the door locked with a note saying it was cancelled, Mara gave a small smirk. _Score! No class 'til one p.m. Time to go relax and get ahead on some homework while rocking out to some Bach._

It was only ten a.m. and she hurried to the commons area, rolled out a blanket, plopped down and put her earphones in. For a few moments, she sat there listening before she opened her books.

* * *

"Oh come on, Luke! We all know you have a thing for her. You don't hide it very well, you know;" said Han Solo, a senior, to Luke Skywalker, a freshman. They had became friends pretty quickly.

Luke shook his head, blushing madly and saying, "Are you kidding me? Dude, she'd either laugh in my face or try to knife me. Trust me, she thinks I'm just some nobody kid from some small farm town. I don't have a chance in a thousand."

Han elbowed him jovially. "You're not denying any of what I said. You _do_ obviously have a crush on her."

"It doesn't matter, Han. Say, when are you asking that Leia girl out? You seem to like her a lot."

Han lifted a hand and said, "Wait a second, Kid. We aren't talking about me. We're talking about... would you look at that! No class! Hey, when's your next one?"

Luke grinned and said, "One I think. Where're you headed? I'm going to the commons area."

Han winked and said, "Got a couple of um... deliveries at my apartment. Nothing you need to concern yourself with... unless you want to buy some really good shine."

Luke snorted and said, "Not on your life. That stuff would probably make you go blind faster than dumping it straight into your eyes."

They left the building and looked out over the commons. There was a group from the band hanging out, laughing about something or another. Some of the football players were lounging in the gazebo. There were pairs and trios of students everywhere but out in the grass sat Mara Jade, her gold red hair like a beacon as the sun glinted off it. That hair was something else and Luke constantly caught himself staring at it - along with other parts of her. Han chuckled beside him. "Come on, Luke. Go for it. What's the worse that could happen?"

Luke gave him a pointed look. "Don't you have something to pick up at your apartment, Han?"

With a chuckle, Han walked away. Luke's eyes wandered back to where Mara was sitting. She was still there - probably listening to music and doing homework. Luke had much the same idea. He whistled cheerfully, found an open patch of ground and plopped down, kicking his legs out in front of him. He took a textbook out of his backpack along with the bag of candy he always carried, grabbed his Ipod - it was old and cracked but it still worked well - put his earphones in and laid back, using his backpack as a pillow. He chewed the candy, listened and read but it wasn't long before his book was laying face down on his chest and he was snoring softly.

* * *

Out of the corner of her eye, Mara had watched Luke cross the commons and lay back. She had chuckled when he had stopped eating his sweets and the book had collapsed onto his chest. Luke was always nice to her - well to everyone actually. She had learned a bit about him too, just from listening around. He was raised by his aunt and uncle on a farm, something the Mara had been delighted to find out. She still couldn't wait for the opportunity to torment him about it. During the first day of one of the classes they took together, she and Luke were in a group with two other kids, Leia and a senior named Han and the professor wanted them to get to know one another. It was one of those stupid games where you say your name, what your major was going to be and what you loved to do for a hobby. Mara didn't much care but she played along for the sake of courtesy. Han was a business major and he liked street racing in the city thirty minutes away. Leia was a political science major and she enjoyed just hanging out with friends. Mara was a business major as well and she enjoyed a good book and classical music. Luke had gone last. He was soft spoken and even a little shy. He was a criminal justice major and he had raced cars a little back home.

She was debating going over and harassing him a little, a hobby she had developed, when one of the students in some of her business classes plopped down. Mara stifled a curse. It was Lando Calrissian, a man who certainly seemed to think he had something to offer her. He flashed white teeth in what Mara assumed was supposed to be a dashing smile and said, "Hello Mara. You're looking mighty fine as always."

Mara cleared her throat and said, "Thank you. Do you need something, Lando?"

Lando nodded and said, "I just heard that there's a party this Friday night and was wondering if you'd like to go with me."

Mara had less than no desire to go - especially with Lando. The guy was insufferable. Desperately, she looked around for an excuse. "I have plans this Friday, Lando. Thanks though."

"Oh come on. Are you sure you don't want to go with me? It's supposed to be a pretty good time;" cajoled the man, his smile widening if at all possible.

Mara was known for a short temper and right now, she was losing hers. "Look, Lando, I have stuff I need to do this weekend. We have midterms coming up and I want to be ready. Besides, I already..." and she made up the first thing she could on the fly even though she'd be kicking herself for it later, "... I promised Luke Skywalker I would help him with his psych homework. That reminds me, we have class in fifteen minutes. I gotta go make sure the farm boy is awake."

Abruptly, she put her stuff back in her bag, pocketed her iphone and walked over to Skywalker. Calrissian seemed surprised, "You're spending a weekend doing homework with _that kid?"_

Mara stopped and looked at him, saying, "Yeah. What's wrong with him?"

Lando chuckled and said, "Rumor has it he's an orphan who works on a farm with his aunt and uncle. He got a second rate education and spent his free time racing cars and fixing them up to earn extra money."

"So?"

Lando just chuckled. "Forgive me but it just didn't seem like the two of you would share the same social circles. That's all."

Mara opened her mouth and shut it again. She was sick of this conversation and she couldn't believe that people thought she cared about 'social circles'. "Look, Lando, I have to go."

He caught her arm and said, "I'm sorry if I offended you..."

"Lando, I HAVE to GO!" she snapped and walked away.

She was so mad that she nearly just kicked Luke's shoe to wake him before bending down and gently shaking his shoulder. He jolted to wakefulness with a snort and said, "What?"

She had to admit, the guy looked adorable with his sleepy, confused expression. "Sorry, I didn't want to wake you but class starts soon and I figured you didn't want to be late."

Luke checked his watch and said, "Oh wow, must have dozed off. Thanks."

Mara nodded and snatched up the bag of treats. "What have we here? You know this stuff is terrible for you. You shouldn't eat it so much, Farmboy. You might lose all your teeth."

She opened the bag and helped herself to a chocolate with a mischievous smile. Luke gave her a strange look. "Wait? What did you call me?"

Cheerfully, she put the bag of candy back in his bag for him as she replied, "'Farmboy', why? People don't usually call you that?"

Luke chuckled and said, "You'd be the first, actually. Anyhow, I like sweet stuff. My aunt and uncle limited it so much so when I finally got out there, I decided that I'd try more and apparently I have a sweet tooth. Feel free to help yourself by the way."

Mara chuckled at his dry humor as they went inside. After a moment of silence, she turned to him as they walked and asked him, "I don't suppose you have plans this weekend, do you?"

Luke shrugged. "Nah. My roommate Wedge Antilles has a date so I'm all on my own. That's fine though. There's always catching up to do with homework and I could always keep watching _Knight Fall_. Why do you ask?"

Mara bit her lip before saying, "I might or might not have told Lando Calrissian that I couldn't go to a party with him because I was helping you with psych this weekend."

Luke looked at her and frowned for a moment before bursting into chuckles. "Well I suppose that works, though I think I'm on top of psych. If you want, we can just do something else..." and he thought for a moment before saying, "... or if you really just need a cover story, we can make one up."

Mara looked at him, studying his side profile. The thing is she hated weekends. The parties could be fun but she wasn't brave enough, or maybe stupid enough, to go to the parties in the frat houses. Mostly, she just got ahead in classes, stayed in the dorm and listened to music, read, worked out and played strategy video games. After considering for a minute, Mara said, "You know what, I think that sounds fun. How far along are you in _Knight Fall?"_

Luke smiled with pleasure and said, "Oh I just started it. I'm only a couple episodes in."

Mara grinned wickedly and said, "Oh so you haven't found out that the king is actually..."

Luke shushed her and said, "Don't tell me! I want it to be a surprise!"

Mara chuckled and said, "Oh right, sorry;" not even a little sorry.

Boy, teasing Luke was lots of fun. He took it pretty well too, which was a good thing. She had seen him get angry early in the semester when some of the Iota Sigma Beta boys were harassing Leia and her roommate Winter. When one of them tried to put a hand on Winter, Luke was suddenly there, his blue eyes blazing and he said in the most level, calm tone that they shouldn't be treating young women like that. Mara was sure that the ISB guys were going to beat the farm boy up but they just laughed at him and walked away.

The class was already full when they got there so Luke and Mara slipped into the back and took the two seats in the back corner. While Professor Cracken gave the lecture, Luke opened his bag of sweets and offered one to Mara. She smiled and mouthed ' _thank you'_ as she accepted one. For the entire class, they sat there eating candy, taking notes and stealing secretive glances at each other.

 **Updated 10.15.2018**


	2. Chapter 2

As Friday rolled around, Mara found herself looking forward to hanging out with Luke Skywalker. As soon as class was over she had used her phone to creep on his facebook page. He was just a normal kid from a farm area. He liked football, was into MMA, loved guns and played MMO video games. His first car was actually a pick-up - surprise, surprise - and apparently he had been driving since he was fourteen. Mara chuckled. It must have been good to grow up in farm-ville where your uncle played poker with the local sheriff. Luke liked food too - cooking it and eating it.

Mara decided she was going to pick up some sweets to add to the farm boy's stash and maybe get him some cream soda to drink - the old fashioned type stuff out of a glass bottle. After she had creeped on his facebook bio, she looked at his pictures. Man, she was beginning to like what she saw. She went through pictures of Luke doing everything - hanging out with his buddies, standing next to some really nice cars and trucks, standing next to some pretty girls too. She knew for a fact he wasn't in a relationship at the moment but some of the girls he was with were stunning. Mara frowned and made a mental note to make sure she looked really good and to make it look like she wasn't trying to look good.

After stalking his facebook page, she stalked his friends. He had several from before he went to college. One name appeared quite often - Biggs Darklighter. Apparently the man had joined the Marines and become a fighter jet pilot. Others were people she knew a little - Han Solo, Leia Organa, Winter Retrac, Wedge Antilles and so on. Apparently Luke and a select group of his friends had a little group on facebook called the Rogues and they got together and went car racing in the city a half hour south. Mara would make a point to tag along one of the times. It looked like a lot of fun.

Her eagerness increased when she went to the gym to get a workout in and practice her dancing. Mara had grown up learning all kinds of dancing and she loved to do it. When she went, she saw Luke there, listening to music on a cracked Ipod that was several years out of date and working at the weight machines.

He wasn't going for being a body builder. That was obvious. The low weight and high repetition made Mara think he was just doing it to stay in good shape. Well, low weight was relative. Whatever his working out did to him, he hid it under a shirt and shorts that were at least two sizes too big for him. Mara chuckled. A fashion guru, he was not.

Things got really interesting when he went to where the wrestling team practiced. There were some punching bags set up, though not many people ever used them except to look stupid showing off. In the same room was a wall of mirrors and Mara liked to use it to practice dancing. She had been dancing since she was really little and it relaxed her and also just made her feel good. While she stretched, she watched with interest as Luke wrapped his hands and began hitting the bag. Luke wasn't just some idiot whaling on a bag. It looked like he knew what he was doing. Mara found it fascinating. She liked watching MMA but she didn't do it herself. After a few moments, Luke kept getting tangled up in is over-sized shirt so he removed it. Mara cocked an eyebrow. _Well... I didn't see that coming._

Luke wasn't huge like a body builder of football player and wasn't lean and wiry like a runner or swimmer. He was somewhere in between. After she was fully stretched out, Mara tore her gaze away from Luke and took a deep breath before going into the opening moves of her dance.

Luke had been unable to shake the feeling that someone was watching him but he wanted to finish his workout. Finally, he looked around. The wrestling team was working over on the mats but none of them were paying him any mind. He looked around until he saw Mara Jade dancing over by the mirrors and his jaw went completely slack. She was wearing gray workout attire that she wore like a second skin - showing off every curve and plain of her feminine body. Luke whipped back to the bag and quickly, though thoroughly, finished his routine before grabbing his shirt, throwing it back on with a blush and heading to the showers before his youthful body betrayed him.

Mara watched as he left out of the corner of her eye and smirked. She was quite pleased that she could throw him off - just another way she could mess with him. She chuckled wickedly at the idea.

When she finished, she realized that there had been several pairs of eyes ogling her while she wrapped up and she was not happy. One of them was Lando. Glaring, she lifted her hands and snapped sarcastically, "Did you enjoy the show?"

There were a number of cat calls, whistles and affirmative reactions. "Glad to hear it, assholes;" she snapped again and gathered her stuff before stalking to the women's showers.

* * *

Luke went back to his dorm to find that Wedge was gone. Sighing, he pulled out his homework and struggled through it. The work itself wasn't terrible. In fact most of it was fairly easy but Luke was having the damnedest time getting his mind off of a gorgeous redhead with a body to die for, and eyes to die for, and hair to die for, and... Luke groaned and shook himself. He was getting himself worked up and that was a bad idea since she would be coming over later and he doubted she would appreciate that.

After a couple hours, Luke finished his homework, stood and stretched. He looked around and groaned. Luke himself was pretty tidy. Wedge, on the other hand, was a slob. Luke began throwing clothes into his roommates hamper, tossed garbage into the garbage can and even made Wedge's bed. After a few other things here and there - sweeping, dusting and so on - Luke looked around, satisfied. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. It was Han Solo and he was grinning that big, ridiculous lopsided smirk of his. "Hey, Kid. What's the good word?"

Luke chuckled dryly and said, "How's it going, Han?"

Han bustled on in and said, "I heard through the twittersphere that you and a certain gorgeous redhead are having a date tonight. I thought I'd get you something for the evening."

Han pulled his backpack off and pulled out a heavy something or other wrapped in newspaper. Luke frowned and took it, his frown turning to a scowl as soon as he held it. "Han, is this one of your jars of moonshine?"

The older boy nodded and Luke tried to hand it back. "I'm not going to try and get her drunk, Han. Besides, if we get caught with that I'm gonna be in deep shit."

Han took it and immediately stashed it behind some containers and a pitcher in one of the cupboards. "I'm not suggesting that you try and get her drunk, Luke. Just tell her that a friend dropped it off and ask if she wants any. Make it casual. I'm not telling you to force feed it to her."

Luke gave him an exasperated look. Han's lopsided grin returned and he said, "According to Talon Karrde, you two aren't really doing homework either. He seems to have the idea you two are watching that _Knight Falls_ show and doing dinner."

Luke blushed and managed to suppress a groan. Instead he shrugged and said, "Well what does Karrde know?"

Han burst into laughter and replied, "Karrde knows everything, Luke. He knows how to get the scoop better than anyone I've ever met. He's almost as good at getting you good stuff as I am. Anyhow, the jar is really the only reason I came. Talk to you later, Junior."

Luke chuckled and shook his head as Han left. Suddenly, Luke's phone buzzed. It was a text from an unknown number. Opening it up, Luke saw the following message:

 _Hey, Farmboy. It's Mara Jade. I got your number from your roommate's girlfriend. I was wondering if you were planning dinner or should I go to the cafeteria?_

It gave Luke a great idea. Friday was supposed to be Mexican food night but by the time the staff was ready to serve, it was hardly recognizable as food at all. He replied to the text:

 _Hello Mara. Why don't we do dinner? I'll use the kitchen in the bottom floor of the dorms and we can have some actual Tex-mex food - not the slop they serve in the Cafeteria._

He was surprised to find that he was anxiously holding his breath, waiting for her to reply. It came quickly:

 _You better not let me down then. If I have to go hungry tonight, you WILL suffer my wrath. You wouldn't like me when I'm hangry, Farmboy._

Luke chuckled and replied:

 _I haven't gotten any complaints yet. Gotta go. Need to grab the goods to make this stuff. See you around seven-ish?_

He texted Han asking for a ride since freshmen didn't have their own cars on campus - though Luke kept his in a storage locker. His phone buzzed twice as he walked down the hall. One was Han saying that he would give Luke a ride to Walmart while the other was Mara again.

 _What? You're not going to come and pick me up, Farmboy? :(_

Luke blushed and chuckled.

 _Sure but it's a bit of a walk from your dorms to mine._

He hurried out the door and Han rolled up in a Chevi Cruz - blue with red racing stripes. As he sat down, Luke's phone buzzed again. As casually as possible, Han said, "That your girlfriend?"

Luke glared at him but then chuckled, "I sure hope so - at least in the future."

Han slapped his shoulder as he drove. "That's the spirit! Come out of that farm boy shell of yours. Alright so what are you getting from the store?"

Luke hadn't even thought of that. He pulled his phone out and read the text real quick.

 _(Sigh) I'll just walk by myself the three quarters of a mile across the dangerous campus._

Luke chuckled and typed up a quick list of items he was getting from Walmart before answering her:

 _Hey now, I said I would but that means you'll have to wait a little longer for dinner._

They pulled into the parking lot and ran inside. Han raised an eyebrow when Luke grabbed a cart and started heading down the isles, grabbing everything he could. Han tagged behind and asked, "How do you pay for this stuff?"

Luke gave him a wink and just kept going. Han raised his eyebrows higher. The idea that Luke was into anything less than legal was a new one. He just seemed so straight laced. When Luke had gathered everything he needed, he headed to the electronic entertainment area and picked out a couple things. "That's not for your date;" said Han.

Luke just shook his head. When they got to the cashier, she gave Luke a smile and a wink. It was another student, Deena Shan. Han had the feeling that Luke and her had a secret business arrangement but that was none of his business. When Luke pulled out his wallet, Han was shocked to see at least four debit cards. What the hell was he into? Luke selected one and paid and they headed back to Han's car. Luke's phone buzzed again. The message said,

 _It's alright, Farmboy. I'll be over there around six-forty-five. You'd better have tacos ready for me to make up for not walking over here to get me or else I'll make you pay._

Luke chuckled and replied:

 _Soft or Hard? I can do burritos too. And just about any other kind of tex-mex type food._

Han was grinning and asked, "So... what are you talking about with her?"

Luke shrugged. "Just dinner. I'm making mexican food."

Han looked at him sharply. "You can cook? You've never offered to cook for me."

Luke grinned and said, "You're not a gorgeous redhead, are you, Han?"

Han pouted and said, "No, just a gorgeous male specimen, though you wouldn't be interested in that, thankfully. Anyhow, one of these times, we're getting the guys together and having a guys night in the game room."

Luke nodded. It sounded fun.

* * *

Mara was trying to pick out an outfit. She wasn't going to wear anything too special - probably just some yoga pants and a tanktop but which ones? It was important to try without looking like it. Suddenly, she stopped and frowned at herself in the mirror. "Why am I trying so hard to look good? This isn't a date. We're getting together to watch tv and eat tacos, mostly so that I can avoid going to a party at a frat house."

She grabbed a pair of black yoga pants and a black cami before throwing a sweatshirt on. She looked at herself and put her hair back into a high pony tail. "There. Casual and comfortable."

Quickly, she texted one of her friends who had a car, asking if said person would be willing to pick up some candy and soda for her. After receiving and affirmative, she grabbed her backpack and her purse. It was almost six fifteen and she grinned at the idea of Luke looking surprised that she had showed up before he had food ready. As soon as her friend dropped off the goods, she headed across campus. _This is going to be so much fun;_ she thought to herself with a smirk.

 **Updated 10/15/2018**


	3. Chapter 3

Luke sang quietly and even danced a little to the country music he had playing as he moved around the dorm building's small kitchen, checking on the chicken, peppers, beans, rice and so on that he had cooking on the stove top. He was a little nervous. Mara Jade would be outside the back door of the building pretty soon expecting him to let her in. For the eighth time at least, he made sure he had everything - taco shells, tortillas, chicken and so on and was, for the eighth time, satisfied but it didn't allay his nerves. As far as Luke, and quite probably everyone else, was concerned, he and Mara were in completely separate leagues. With a rueful chuckle, Luke began putting the food into containers to carry up to his and Wedge's dorm room.

* * *

Mara was humming to herself as she walked across campus. The sun wasn't quite down yet but it was getting there. From the park that separated the dorms, she could see the Iota Sigma Beta house. There were already a throng of people over there and the music was almost recognizable. She shook her head at it. Mara liked to party - not stupid party with drugs and alcohol and raunchy sex in who knows who's bedroom but a dance with friends and maybe a little delinquent drinking never hurt anyone. "Hello Mara, how are you?"

Mara turned to see Lando and a couple friends walking towards her, most likely on there way to the ISB house. "I'm alright. How are you guys doing?"

"Just heading to the party. You sure you want to go spend time with Hay-bale instead of coming with us?" asked one of them. Mara ignored him and said, "Have fun. Don't do anything too crazy. You know how campus security and local cops are on Friday nights."

Lando chuckled and said, "I never do anything too crazy. Anyhow, it's not too late to join us. Everyone knows that you weren't actually planning on helping Luke Skywalker with psych so..."

Mara's eyes narrowed and she said in a cool, level voice, "Lando, I don't really care what Talon Karrde or whatever other gossip queen says. Even if I'm not giving Luke a hand, I would rather hang out with him than with a bunch of hormonal, sexually charged deviants at a frat house where a good quarter of the members are suspect of sexual harassment and assault."

One of Lando's buddies, Vak Somoril, bristled at the idea. "Not every fraternity is like that you know. Besides, if you think you have something to worry about, you should lower your opinion of yourself."

Mara just snorted and said, "Whatever you say, Vak. Have fun at the party. Keep your noses clean. You never know when someone could leave an anonymous tip for the Police Department. It would be terrible if ISB got banned for possession. Night."

With that, she turned and walked away. Lando couldn't help but watch her go. "Oh come on, Lando, she isn't that hot;" snorted Vak.

Lando looked at him and said, "Either you bat for the other team, you're a liar or you need to get over your ego, Vak. Mara Jade is a ten out of ten in my book."

Lando's other buddy nodded in agreement. "Whatever;" muttered Vak as they headed on towards the ISB house.

* * *

Luke had just put everything in an insulated bag when his phone buzzed again. He fumbled with it and nearly dropped it before managing to answer, "Hello."

"It's cold out here and I'm hungry. Let me in;" came Mara Jade's voice.

Luke smiled and said, "Be right there."

He hurried to the door and opened it up. "Come on in. Food's warm in the kitchen. Let me grab it and we can go up stairs."

Mara sniffed appreciatively as they made there way inside. "That smells great, Farmboy. I never took you for the cooking type."

Luke chuckled, "My Aunt thought that it would be important to be able to eat well and she hates hearing about school and college cafeterias. Anyhow, how's your week been going?"

Mara shrugged, "Nothing too fun or exciting - classes, labs, stuff like that, probably the same for you."

Luke nodded as he hoisted the cooler bag and headed towards the stairs. "Unfortunately, my dorm room is on the fourth floor. After you."

Mara murmured, "Thanks;" and they started up the flight of stares. After a few moments of silence, Luke murmured, "Apparently Talon Karrde has been starting the rumor mill again. Did you hear what he said about that senior Natasi Daala and Professor Tarkin?"

Mara shrugged. "I don't really pay attention. Let people think what they want to think. It's none of my business."

Luke nodded. It was a good policy and he usually stuck to it. He just hated awkward silences. "How long have you been into MMA?" asked Mara off-handedly.

Luke blushed and said, "Oh you saw that huh?"

She laughed, "Yes I saw that. It's hard to miss the sound of a fist or knee or foot slamming into a fo-leather bag. So how long?"

Luke shrugged. "I used to have a bad temper and my uncle wanted me to play football but I wasn't really good at it. Not big enough for the line, not good enough at throwing to be quarter back and not fast enough for anything else so we had to try other options. We heard from a friend of a friend that this little old guy taught Martial Arts but it had to be for a good reason - not just some punk kid looking to be a bad ass."

Mara giggled, "Really? You have 'punk kid looking to be a bad ass' written all over you."

Luke chuckled, "Well my uncle got a hold of him and said that I had anger management problems and was undisciplined. Apparently that was a good enough reason. All throughout my school years, so long as I kept up with homework and chores, my uncle and aunt would let me go learn from him."

Luke suddenly blushed and said, "I got into a fight just once and he laid into me, even started speaking another language while he yelled at me. The only reason he kept teaching me is because I promised I wouldn't do it again - with qualifications of course."

They made it to the room and went inside. Mara looked around, intrigued at what she saw. Over one of the beds were a bunch of posters of fast cars and over the other, posters from video games. "Is the car one yours?" she asked. Luke laughed and shook his head. "Nope, though everyone assumes that. No the video game one is. Confession: I'm a huge nerd."

Mara chuckled as she went over and sat on his bed while Luke began setting up the food. "What kind of taco do you want?"

She got up and said, "I can assemble my own taco. You don't have to serve me."

Luke shrugged. "Eh, it's no big deal. Help yourself. Want anything to drink? I have some soda, ice tea or water."

Mara smirked at him and said, "Soda?"

Luke blushed. "Yes, soda? Whoever thought of calling a soft drink 'pop' anyway?"

She laughed and said, "Well, I'll have some POP."

Luke grinned and said, "Sorry, all I have is SODA."

They both laughed as he opened the miniature fridge and frowned. "Damn it, Wedge! Could have let me know you finished the soda and the tea;" he muttered before turning around and saying, "So maybe we don't have any soda or tea - no pop either."

Mara sighed as if truly disappointed and said, "Well that's so sad. I was really looking forward to some soda-pop tonight."

Luke felt himself blush and looked away. Mara laughed and said, "You are way to easy to mess with, Luke. Actually, I brought some with me. Do you like cream soda?"

Luke smiled and said, "It's my favorite actually, why?"

Mara opened her bag and pulled out a six pack triumphantly. "I brought some. It's made locally and probably the best in town. Besides, pop is always better in a glass bottle."

"Couldn't agree more;" Luke said with a grin.

She pulled one out and offered it to him. Luke twisted the cap and frowned. "I don't suppose you have a bottle opener, do you?"

Mara produced on from her bag and opened hers before she tossed the tool to him. They sat down on the bed and ate, chatting as they did about classes, the college sports teams and other trivial things. After a half hour of study going, Mara breathed a satisfied sigh and said, "I can't eat another bite. That wasn't half bad, Farmboy."

Luke chuckled at the nickname and said, "I'm glad you approve - better than the caf?"

Mara snorted, "Luke, a protein bar would be better than the caf."

Luke laughed and gathered the paper plates and plastic utensils and threw them into the trash can. When he turned around, he saw that Mara was nibbling on a piece of candy out of his stash and chuckled, "Help yourself;"

She smiled impishly and said, "You don't mind, do you?"

Luke shook his head. "Not at all."

He went opened his cupboard and then hastily shut it again, almost slamming it. Mara cocked an eyebrow. "Are you alright over there?"

Luke blushed and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just grabbing some smaller containers to put leftovers in."

Mara stood and strolled on over saying, "Really? Looks like you saw a ghost in there."

Luke wanted to protest but he couldn't think of a good enough reason to before she opened the cupboard and looked inside. There stood the mason jar of moonshine. With wide eyes, Mara pulled it out and examined it. "My, my, Farmboy, I never took you for the type to by moonshine from Han Solo. I think I must have read you all wrong."

Luke was blushing dark red now and had his forehead in one hand as he explained, "I didn't buy it. Han brought it over for me earlier."

She set it on the counter and said, "Did he tell you to get me drunk too?"

Luke's eyes widened. "NO! No, no he just thought I should offer some. I wasn't planning to even bring it out. I had forgotten about it 'til just now."

Mara nodded for a moment and then asked, "So... what flavor is it?"

Luke's already wide eyes went even wider, "What?"

Mara picked it up again and began trying to untwist the cap. "What flavor is it? I hope it's the strawberry. That's my favorite so far."

Luke's jaw dropped open in shock. Mara Jade did not seem like the kind of girl who would indulge in under age drinking. She looked at him and burst out laughing. "Luke, you look ridiculous."

She reached up and closed his mouth before handing him the jar. "Open it for me please. I think I'll have some if you're willing to share."

Luke was so shocked, he just took the jar and opened it with a pop. The smell of strawberries filled the room and Mara said, "Put in _Knight Falls_ and I'll pour us some."

Luke just said, "Uh... okay. I thought you wanted to avoid drunken revelry tonight. That's why you didn't go to the party."

Mara chuckled and said, "No, I avoided going to the party because I don't trust frat boys - especially not ISB frat boys and I have less than no desire to hang out with Lando Calrissian. Jerk would spend the whole night trying to get me drunk and into my pants."

Luke laughed and put in the DVD before he went back and sat next to Mara on the bed before accepting a cup from her. It sure smelled good, not like the scotch or whiskey his uncle used to drink on occasion. Mara clinked his glass and said, "To staying in and successfully avoiding nasty Mexican food."

Luke laughed and took a sip. It tasted good but, holy hell, it really burned too. He coughed a little which caused Mara to laugh. "Don't drink much, do you Farmboy?"

Luke shook his head. "Nope, sure don't - just a beer or a little scotch every now and again."

They stayed up late into the night, watching tv, drinking moonshine and enjoying each other's company. When the jar was empty, and they were both more than a little drunk, Mara stood unsteadily and said, "Well this was fun but I should get back. It's almost midnight and if the RA's catch us, we'll be in huge amounts of trouble."

Luke nodded and stood as well. Through her haze, Mara remembered the sweets she had brought for him. "Here, Luke. I got these for you since I've been eating so much of your candy."

Luke examined the bag and smiled, "Thanks. You know you didn't have to do that."

Mara waved it away airily. "Was my pleasure. Well, I'll see you later."

Luke helped her grab her bag and said, "Let me walk you back. It's late and I wouldn't feel right about you going across campus on your own."

Mara giggled and said, "All the martial arts skills in the world wouldn't help either of us now if there was trouble, Luke."

Luke shrugged, "Humor me. I'd feel better knowing you were safely inside."

Mara shrugged. "Suit yourself."

* * *

It was cold outside and Mara shivered a little. Luke took his jacket and wrapped it around her before they began to head back. They both giggled as they swayed and staggered ever so slightly, hoping that no cops or campus security guys would catch them. After a rather long walk, they made it back to Mara's dorm building. At the door, she turned and said, "Well dinner was great and that was a lot of fun. We should do it again sometime, Farmboy."

Luke smiled with pleasure. "I agree though maybe we should ease up on the booze next time."

Mara pouted slightly and said, "You're no fun. Hey I have nothing going on tomorrow night. Want to keep watching the show over some Chinese take out? You're gonna love what happens in the next couple episodes."

Luke was about to accept but then remembered something. "I would love to but I actually have plans tomorrow. Sorry. How about Sunday afternoon?"

Mara frowned and said, "Plans, huh? What kind of plans?"

Luke suddenly looked decidedly uncomfortable. "A few of us guys are heading down south to the city. We've been planning the trip for a couple weeks now."

Mara looked a little disappointed but she smiled and said, "Alright. Sunday afternoon it is. Have fun tomorrow night."

"Thanks. You too;" he said. Mara smiled and went inside.

Luke looked up at the stars with a huge, dopey grin on his face. It hadn't been an official date or anything but Mara had really seemed to enjoy herself. Luke sure had. Not only that, she wanted to hang out again. Perfect end to a perfect day. Luke turned around and headed back, whistling cheerfully to himself. He saw the three guys walking towards him but didn't think anything of it until one of them called him. "Hey, Kid. Got a second?"

Do to the alcohol in his system, it took Luke a second to realize that the guy was talking to him. Luke pulled his hands out of his pockets and said, "Sure. How can I help you?"

Luke recognized them as ISB frat boys and one of them put an arm around his shoulder and asked, "You have a good night, Luke? You and Mara have a good time?"

Luke nodded, his expression guarded. "Yeah. We ate tacos and watched tv, why do you ask?"

"That's it, huh? I smell some of Solo's shine on your breath. You sure nothing else happened?"

Luke was a little offended. "Yes, I'm sure nothing else happened. What's it to you anyway?"

The guy lifted his hands and said, "Easy, killer. Look we're glad that you and Mara are getting along. It's good to have friends in college, especially one with a reputation of being a good guy like you do but you realize that the two of you are in social spheres that really don't touch, right?"

Luke felt his pride bruise a little and his temper prick. "What does that mean?" he said in a deceptively calm voice.

Another of the guys sighed and said, "Look, Luke, I don't know how to put this so let me try like this. Mara Jade was adopted and raised by Sheev Palpatine and his mistress Ysanne Isard. She's basically the daughter of a multi-billionaire. She's grown up on silver spoons, the best education and the high society life. You - just haven't. There's nothing wrong with being razed on a farm. We need good people like that but the fact of the matter is that you two just aren't really compatible. Take our advice, brother. Stay firmly in the friend zone. You'll be safer there."

Luke took a deep breath and replied, "I appreciate your concern but I think I'll just go where this takes me. I was never much for paying attention to social stigmas or elitist ideas of everyone having a limited place in society. Have a good night, gents."

Behind him he heard one of them say. "Don't worry about it. We'll let Derran know and he can decided what to do next."

 **Updated 10/15/2018**


	4. Chapter 4

Mara was playing a computer game when her phone buzzed. She took it and smiled, seeing that Luke had texted her.

 _Hello there. Want to meet somewhere for lunch? That little diner has some great food._

Mara quickly texted back,

 _Only if you're paying. We're not all made of money you know._

She threw on a pair of jeans, a tank top and a sweatshirt before tying her gold-red hair back into a ponytail. She grabbed her purse and her keys and headed out quickly. The diner was only a short walk away. On the way, her phone buzzed with Luke's reply,

 _LOL! Funny. Yes, I'll pay. I'd never invite you to lunch and then make you pay for yourself. That would just be rude._

Mara chuckled as she turned the corner and saw Luke talking to a group of guys, including his room mate Wedge Antilles. When he noticed her, Luke said, "Hey I'll see you boys later. Don't forget to bring the necessaries."

Wedge mock saluted, "You got it boss. Don't do anything I wouldn't."

They moved off but one of them, the youngest, called back to him, "Hey Luke, aren't you going to introduce us to your new girlfriend?"

Luke blushed and said, "Get outta of here, Dak."

Mara chuckled again and surprised Luke by giving him a hug. Despite his surprise, he hugged her back and said, "How's your Saturday going, Mara?"

She shrugged, "I'm board and hungry. Let's go eat. We can talk about what we're doing tomorrow."

Luke nodded eagerly and they went inside. It was an old school diner, like one that you'd see in the movie _Grease_ or something and it smelled good. They found a seat and made small talk before ordering. Mara laughed at the meal Luke ordered. "Geez, Farmboy! There are small towns in third world countries who could be fed on what you eat."

Luke blushed and smiled. "I'm a growing boy, Mara."

She laughed again. After a moment of companionable silence, Mara nonchalantly asked, "So what are you and the boys doing in the city tonight?"

Luke became noticeably uncomfortable. He didn't want to lie to her but at the same time, he didn't want to tell her, that much was obvious. He was stuck. With a sigh, he leaned forward and motioned her to do the same. With a whisper, he asked, "Can you keep a secret?"

Mara nodded but even so Luke was nervous. "Down in the city, at least once every month, me and the boys put some money together and I race my car on the streets. Sometimes Wedge races with me and sometimes he doesn't but it gives us all a decent income while we're here. The problem is it's highly illegal AND the other participants are usually hardened criminals of one kind or another."

Mara listened without saying a word. When Luke was done, a silence followed. Finally, she said, "Well I certainly didn't expect that. I'd say you were lying if I thought you were capable of it."

Luke was silent. He had expected a more animated reaction from her, most likely anger that he would do something that many would think pretty stupid - breaking the law and getting involved with criminal activity that could, and had, often lead to criminal violence. Luke loved it and the money wasn't bad either. Finally, Mara smiled prettily, just as their food was place and she said, "Well have fun tonight then. You can regale me with all the details tomorrow afternoon. That reminds me, what are we doing tomorrow afternoon?"

Luke was relieved. "It's supposed to be nice outside. How about a picnic?"

Mara liked that idea. "Sure. I'll ware a sun dress."

That made Luke smile even larger. "Sounds good."

They continued to talk into the afternoon until Luke had to go meet his friends. Mara hugged him again and said, "Be careful, Farmboy. I'm starting to like you so I'll be pretty mad if you get yourself hurt, arrested or killed."

Luke chuckled and said, "I've never gotten hurt, arrested or killed yet."

* * *

When Mara got back to her dorm, she was pleased to see her roommate Mirax Terrick was home reading a magazine. "Hey Mirax, got a question for you. Do you know anyone who goes and watches the Rogues when they go for their races?"

Mirax looked surprised and Mara waved her hand dismissively, "Luke Skywalker told me. Anyhow, do you?"

Mirax began to look through her phone and said, "Well I know Iella Wessiri always goes. Do you want her number?"

Mara nodded. When she had obtained the number, she called it. "Hey Iella, it's Mara Jade - we have stats together. - I'm doing well, how are you? - That's great. Anyhow I heard that some of the boys go down to the city and do a little clandestine racing and that you usually go watch. I'd like to go, too. Would that be okay? - Awesome! I - wait, what now? - Sure I'll be there in a couple minutes. - Thanks Iella. - Yup, bye."

Mirax grinned and said, "She's going to dress you up like one of those racer fan girls, isn't she?"

Mara blushed and murmured, "I guess so."

"Lucky, lucky Luke. You'll have to tell me how it goes later."

Mara nodded and left. Two hours later, she was getting into Iella's car. They were both dressed in tight pants, rather revealing shirts and heels. Mara felt a little uncomfortable in the clothes and Iella said, "You'll get used to it. Just one final warning though: you will be ogled. It's part of the sport. Are you sure you want to come along?"

Mara nodded and smiled. "Let's go. I want to see what this is all about."

* * *

When they reached the city, the sun had gone down and it was dark. Iella pulled a pair of pepper spray cans and taser to shove into her purse. Mara looked shocked. "You're kidding, right?"

Iella gave her a look that showed exactly how serious she was. Mara sighed and pulled a very small pistol out of her purse and checked the load. "I guess old Sheev knew what he was talking about."

Iella's eyes went wide, "Woah! That's a gun. Do NOT pull that out unless you absolutely have to, PLEASE, Mara. Starting a gun fight here could get some of us killed."

Mara gave her a patient look. "I've gone through all pertinent classes and have a fake CCW just in case. When your guardian is as rich as Sheev Palpatine, you can get pretty much whatever you want."

Iella looked skeptical but nodded. They stepped out of the car and were immediately bombarded by loud music with the bass turned up way, WAY too high. Iella looked over and pointed out certain people such as drivers, staunch supporters, key gamblers and the man who took the money for the bets. Mara murmured, "Do you ever place a bet?"

Iella nodded eagerly. "All the time. Come with me."

They sashayed over to the bookie and placed sizable bets on Luke since Wedge wasn't driving that night. Mara was surprised to see Lando Calrissian and several of the Iota Sigma Beta boys and Han Solo as well, all placing bets. Han had the trunk of a van open and he was selling the shine out of the back of it. It was going fast too. He noticed Mara and his eyes widened. Immediately, the senior grabbed his phone and made a call. Mara bet he was calling Luke.

* * *

Luke was doing a last few checks on his car. It was the same every time they raced - drive in, find out the evening's event, make a plan and start doing checks on his vehicle, fending off the local female spectators as he did. He always tried to be polite and always smiled and was always courteous though firm. As he finished one last check and wiped fluids and grime on a rag, Luke's phone rang. Frowning, he answered, "Hello?"

"Luke - it's Han, buddy. Hey, did you know Mara was coming with Iella tonight?"

Luke's mouth fell open. "Uh... no. Is she really here?"

"Uh... yeah. On a high note, she's dressed to kill. Damn, Luke! She's hot! Anyhow, I'll keep an eye on her and I'll talk to a couple of the guys too. I'll make their only purpose tonight keeping the ISB boys away from her."

Luke sighed with relief. "Thank's, Han. Should I let Wedge race tonight and stick around Mara?"

"NO! No, no. I'll make sure she's safe, alright? Even if I have to take care of her myself, I'll make sure she's safe."

Luke smiled at his friend. "Thanks, Han. Alright, time to get ready to line up. Wish me luck."

* * *

Luke and three others rolled their cars up to the starting line. It was a simple race around a predetermined route. First one back wins. The other drivers were all newcomers who hadn't raced before. Luke had remained silent as they goaded one another until the bookie calmed them down, outlined the track and made sure everything was clear. Once the cars started, there were really no rules accept be the first one back. Luke looked to his right and left. The other cars looked like they were pretty decked out but Luke was confident in his own skills and in the money he had put into his car. A tall, leggy, scantily clad blond strutted out and lifted her hands and dropped them. They were off.

Mara watched as the cars shot off. Iella was grinning and said, "Here, go to this website on your phone and you can watch it live from different cameras set up throughout the city."

Mara followed the instructions, her green eyes wide. "A lot of prep goes into these underground races."

"You have no idea;" murmured Iella.

It was exciting to see, even just on the cameras. Luke's car was a dull gray with red stripes and he had a car painted on his rear bumper for every race he won and there were a lot of cars on that bumper. Mara felt herself getting excited as the cars tore around corners and blazed down streets. The bookie was announcing over a loud sound systems. "This is one of our best races yet, folks. It's gonna get better in a second. Just wait for the flashing lights."

As if on cue, red and blue lights began to flash in several of the camera views and six police cruisers blazed after the racers. "This should add something interesting to the race. First racer back without a cop car following them gets the cash. If anyone comes back with the cops following them, I pity them."

Mara's green eyes were huge and glued to her phone. Suddenly, a huge screen showed the race where the cars were. In surprise, Luke's car split off and spead down an alley. Two cruisers followed. She covered her mouth, worried on her friend's behalf. Luke whipped into a twenty-four hour parking garage, the cameras losing sight of him. For several long minutes, he didn't reemerge. When he did, he tore out and headed back towards the finish line. The cruisers weren't following him anymore. Suddenly, another car tore out of an alley in front of him. The maneuvering was tight and it looked as though Luke had lost already when he suddenly juked and pulled in beside the other car. Mara wanted to cheer but the race wasn't over yet. With a roar of engines, both cars sped up, reaching daunting speeds until the other suddenly swerved towards Luke, who slammed his breaks. His opponent smashed into a parked car and Luke blazed on past and, moments later, across the finish line. Cheers, curses, laughing and angry yells permeated the air. "Come on! Let's go!" cried Iella excited and ran towards the car. Mara was right behind her, eagerly pushing through the massed groups of eager spectators.

When Luke stepped out of the car, a huge grin on his face, he put his hands up immediately to ward off several women who were trying to wrap their arms around his neck and kiss him. One of them, a red-haired beauty with green eyes, ignored them completely, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek happily. The Bookie ran up, still yelling into the mic. "Woah, folks! Woah! I need to give everyone their winnings! Come on, now! Make a hole!"

Luke held out his hands and a huge stack of bills was handed to him. "Thanks, Mazzick."

"Hey you, Skywalker;" came an angry voice. The crowed parted and a man with a bloody forehead came through. "I want my money!"

Mazzick lifted his hands. "Woah there, now. He won. I know you're new to the area but here we have integrity. If we bet money and lose, we don't try and steal it back."

The stranger glared him into silence before pulling his shirt up slightly to reveal a holstered handgun of some kind. Luke looked him in the eye and said, "Funny thing about a gun - it's a useless piece of metal and fiberglass if it isn't in the perfect circumstances. For instance, it needs to be loaded with a round in the pipe, on fire and pointed at the target. Tell me something, do you think you can get that out of your pants and pointed at me before I can knock your dumb ass out?"

The stranger went for it and Luke grabbed his hand before punching him right in the face and putting his arm in a lock and slamming him face first on the hood of his car. Luke growled. "You thought wrong."

A couple of the other guys grabbed the stranger and began to drag him away. Mara whispered to Luke, "What's gonna happen to him?"

Luke sighed. "They'll kick the hell out of him and leave him in the dirt. Now what are you doing here, Mara?"

She smiled and said, "I was curious. I wanted to see what this was all about. I'm glad I came. That was awesome!"

Luke smiled, a little bit of smug pride in his victory. "Well let's go. It's going to get a little ugly when the others get back. They hate it when the cops are involved in the races."

"Can I ride with you?" asked Mara excitedly. Luke nodded. "Sure."

"Hey now, Baby, don't forget your winnings;" said Mazzick to Mara. She smiled and accepted the rather large stack of cash, handing it to Luke. "I don't have pockets;" she explained, "could you carry that for me please?"

Luke nodded and they headed back to his car.

* * *

Mara kept an eye on the Luke as he drove her back to campus. He was humming to himself and, when he reached into the center console and pulled out a sweet, popping it into his mouth after unwrapping it, she laughed. Luke smiled, "Help yourself."

Mara took one and ate it, smirking at him. "You know I will, Farmboy."

Luke chuckled again. He swallowed a couple times before finally getting up the courage to say, "I like your outfit."

Mara looked down at herself. She was wearing a very tight pair of pants, a shirt that didn't have the decency to cover her toned, flat stomach and high heels that made her legs look way, WAY too good. She grinned at him and said, "My, my, Farmboy. Your success tonight it making you brave, isn't it?"

Luke shrugged, blushing furiously. "Maybe a little bit."

Mara smiled and leaned against the car window, facing him slightly. "Well I'm glad you like it."

After a comfortable silence, Mara looked at him and asked, "Why do you do it?"

Luke stole a glance at her. "Do what?"

"Race, of course; why do you race? You never struck me as the type to participate in illegal sports, Farmboy. You always seemed to earnest and straight laced."

Luke thought about it and said, "I've been racing cars since I was fifteen. I won my first night race when I was sixteen and used the winnings to buy my own car and rent a storage unit. My uncle and aunt don't know about it to this day. There's just something about the thrill of a race, driving a really fast car down a dark road with little to no light, knowing that with one wrong move, one wrong twitch of the steering wheel, you could very well wind up dead in a burning pile of scrap and metal. The thrill, the concentration it requires, the adrenaline rush is indescribable."

Mara licked dry lips. It sure sounded like a lot of fun, and to hear Luke talk about it like that made it sound all the better. Something about this whole situation was affecting her and she had a strong urge to kiss the boy in the driver's seat. _Holy hell, Jade! Since when did you have a thing for bad boys?_

But that was just it. Luke wasn't a 'bad boy'. Sure he participated in illegal street racing but he was so kind, gentle, chivalrous, considerate and respectful. Hell, he had to get courage up to simply tell her he liked her outfit. Even so, she wanted to touch him. Nonchalantly, she reached over to grab another sweet as he did, grazing his hand with her own.

Luke's froze for a moment and Mara gave it a tiny little caress. Luke looked to be concentrating on the road as he took her hand and held it, using his thumb to caress the back of her knuckles. Having his callused thumbs rubbing against the back of her hand felt nice. It was comforting. They didn't speak the rest of the ride back to the university but when he pulled up to the storage unit where he kept his car and his tools, Mara was asleep, her head rested on Luke's shoulder. She had her arms around his right arm, hugging it and one of her hands held his. Luke carefully pulled the car into the unit and, regretting the necessity, woke Mara. "Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. I'll walk you back to your dorm."

She yawned and stretched. "My feet hurt. Can you carry me?" she muttered sleepily.

Luke chuckled. First, Mara kicked her heels off and picked them up while they were still in the storage unit. Luke turned around and said, "Okay, hop on."

He carried her back to her dorm piggy-back style and, when he got her to her door, gently let her down. "Sleep tight, Mara."

He was about to walk away when Mara grabbed him and gave him another kiss on the cheek. "You too, Farmboy;" she murmured before she went to bed. Luke smiled and began to walk back to the dorm. It had been a great day.

 **Updated 10/15/2018**


	5. Chapter 5

Luke woke to the sound of his buzzer going off. Grumbling about it being a Sunday morning, he went and hit the call button. He tried as hard as he could not to growl at the speaker. "Hello?"

"It's Mara, Farmboy. Considering it's past ten a.m., I think you've slept enough, don't you? Let me in!"

Despite himself, Luke grinned and said, "Give me a second to throw some clothes on and I'll be right down."

"Hurry up, Sleepy-head;" she sniped back.

Luke chuckled as he threw on clean clothes and ran down stairs. When he opened the door, Mara just walked right in. "It's not nice to keep a girl waiting you know;" she said playfully.

Luke chuckled and they headed up stairs. Luke checked his phone and found that it didn't have any new messages or anything. Mara reached into her bag and pulled out a paper bag. "I made you breakfast, by the way. It's just a bagel but I figured if I was going to wake you up, I could at least feed you."

Luke unwrapped it and smiled appreciatively, "Thanks, Mara. Eggs, sausage and cream cheese - you sure know how to keep a guy from getting mad at you for waking him up."

Mara smiled prettily and said, "Aww, were you really going to be mad at me, Farmboy?"

"No, not really;" he chuckled and took a bite.

They made it to his room and Luke blushed. The bed wasn't made and his clothes were lying everywhere in view. As Mara sat on the bed, Luke quickly gathered the clothes up and tossed them into the hamper. "So what are we doing today?" she asked.

Luke looked out the window and sighed. It was going to rain. "Well it looks like our picnic might be rained out so I'm not sure. What would you like to do?"

Mara shrugged as she took one of Luke's blankets and wrapped it around herself. "Would you like a sweatshirt?" Luke asked.

Before she had even answered in the affirmative, he took one of his sweatshirts and handed it to her. Mara took it and put it on. It smelled like him - a little musky but good at the same time. "This thing is huge;" she said and she pulled her head through the head hole.

Luke laughed and said, "I like my sweatshirts a little bigger. In truth I didn't have very much planned today. Beside my date with you, I was planning on just being lazy and maybe watching something or playing a computer game or something."

Mara nodded and said, "That sounds nice. Finish your breakfast;" she took a sniff and asked, "Is that coffee I smell?"

Luke grinned and headed towards his coffee maker as he munched his bagel. Before stripping down and collapsing into bed, Luke had managed to pre-set his coffee maker. He was glad he had too. He poured them both generous cups of coffee. "Creamer? Sugar? Wedge has some in here somewhere."

He looked around and found the creamer in the fridge. When he opened the cupboard, he started and then sighed ruefully. "Well it looks like Wedge dropped off his recent purchases before heading to Iella's last night. There are ten jars of shine in here. Hey! Look at that! Four of them have my name marked on them."

Mara laughed. Luke finished his bagel sandwich and they sipped coffee in a companionable silence. "Remember last night when I asked you why you raced?" asked Mara quietly. Luke nodded as he went and sat next to her. Mara chewed her lower lip a little before asking, "Can you tell me why again?"

Luke nodded. "I guess it's just a thrill. The speed, the adrenaline rush, the danger, all of it is just so intoxicating. I love the races and the money is nice too but that isn't the real reason. In truth I guess there is no truly good reason. It's just something I really enjoy and something I'm pretty good at."

Mara was still chewing her plump bottom lip. "Is it usually like last night - with the cops and angry participants and such?"

Luke shook his head. "No. Last night was different. The cops are hardly ever involved and usually the racers are disgruntled but not ever like that."

"How often do you race?"

Luke scratched the back of his neck as he thought about it. "Oh, about once every month or two. We can't do it too often or else the police will catch on. It's in random locations around the city and sometimes, outside of it. Not only that, there is a, shall we say, 'large business owner' who doesn't like clandestine racing like that in 'his city' without the opportunity to get a cut. He's been trying to catch on to us for awhile but Mazzick knows his business about keeping it quiet."

Mara's green eyes widened. "So you have angry racers, cops and the mob to worry about and you still race. Wow..."

She stood up and paced. This worried her. She was really starting to like Luke. He was brave, considerate, smart, sweet, good looking and just plain fun to be around but this was some heavy stuff he was into. She couldn't and wouldn't ask him to stop. It wasn't her place to try and change something like this that was part of his life even if she was worried about him. They weren't even in anything other than a friendly relationship but the thing was that she wanted it to be more than that. She turned and considered Luke for a moment. He asked in a quiet voice, "Is everything alright, Mara?"

Mara went and sat by him, taking his hand and holding it. "I guess it just concerns me that you're doing stuff like this. It worries me and is going to every time you do it. Just promise me that you'll always be careful and that you'll never lose focus or lower your awareness or anything like that."

Luke smiled and rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. "I promise;"

Mara smirked and said, "Good. I don't want my farm boy getting hurt, arrested or killed."

Luke cocked an eyebrow. "'Your farm boy'?"

Mara nodded. "Yup. 'My farm boy' - unless you don't want to be my farm boy."

Luke's mouth fell open slightly and he cleared his throat. "Are - are you asking..." and he felt utterly ridiculous for asking such a childish question. "Are you asking me to be your boyfriend, Mara?"

Mara giggled at his bashfulness. "A more adult way to say it would be that I'm asking you to be in a committed relationship with me but yes, I am asking you to be my boyfriend. Can I be your girlfriend?"

Luke blushed at her teasing but was grinning and laughing none the less. "I think a committed relationship sounds good. Yes, I would very much like to be your boyfriend and for you to be my girlfriend."

They both laughed at how juvenile they sounded but they were both thrilled at the same time. After that, Luke refilled their coffee cups and neither really knew what to say. After clearing his throat at least four or five times, Luke said, "Well I'm sorry about our picnic date. Would you like to go out to lunch or maybe order something in? Unfortunately there isn't much but leftovers in the fridge."

Mara, to his surprise, grabbed the blanket and snuggled up to him, hugged his right arm to her like a stuffed animal. "Let's order a pizza and keep watching _Knight Fall._ It's a perfect day for it. Hey, is that your Ipod?"

She let him go and picked up the device. It was the second or maybe third generation Ipod touch and its screen was cracked. Curious, she flipped through, giggling at his choice of music and also at the fact that he had at least two dozen audio books on the device. Taking his earphones, she put one in and selected a title. Luke was blushing a little as he put in an online order with his laptop to be delivered to the dorm building. Before he had the chance to put on the show, Mara said, "Forget the show, let's listen to this instead. I love this book."

Luke listened and blushed a little more though he grinned. "Yup. _Pride and Prejudice_ is a guilty favorite of mine. Pizza should be here in a half hour or so."

They sat quietly, snuggled up in sweatshirts and with blankets wrapped around them. Mara was leaning back against Luke and his chin was gently resting on the top of her red-gold head. The smell of her shampoo was wonderful - like strawberries. Mara just felt warm and comfortable and safe. After a half hour, the pizza guy showed up and Mara paused the book while Luke ran down and grabbed it, tipping the delivery guy heavily since it was really starting to rain hard outside. When he got up to his and Wedge's dorm, he opened the window slightly. At Mara's questioning look, he shrugged and said, "It's probably going to thunderstorm and I love the sound of a good storm. I can close it if you want."

Mara shook her head and said, "No, it's fine. Come here before I get cold."

Sharing the pizza and some more coffee, they snuggled up and continued to listen to the book. Every now and again, Mara would straighten and look back at Luke, a question on her face. Luke would smile and sometimes ask, "Is everything okay? Can I get you anything?"

Mara smiled and shook her head. Each time, Luke would look at her stunning features and would feel a desire to kiss her. Not a quick friendly peck but a real kiss. Each time, the more cautious part of him would warn, _not yet. It's too soon,_ while the more brash, reckless part of him would say _why not? Wedge and Iella kissed BEFORE their first date and so did plenty of other people you know._

Mara looked back at him again before changing position. Slowly, she eased herself into his lap, sitting sideways and leaning her head against his shoulder. Somehow, that made all the difference. Tentatively, Luke kissed her brow, inhaling the fruity smell of her red hair. She looked up at him, biting her lower lip. Her green eyes were twinkling just a little and she reached up and touched his cheek, pulling him down towards her. _Well if she wants me too, why not?_

Gently, Luke pressed his lips against hers and it was like a lightning bolt going through his body. All clear thought stalled in his mind for the few seconds as they held the kiss. Slowly, they separated and looked at each other. For a moment, they considered before Mara shifted a little so that she could face him more easily before leaning back in. This time, the kiss was less tentative and more experimental. Luke's arms were wrapped around her and Mara had one around his back while the opposite hand held his face again, running her thumb along his cheek bone. Neither of them knew how much time had passed when they were interrupted by the dorm's door suddenly opening. Standing there with looks of surprise were Wedge and Iella. The former grinned broadly and said cheerfully, "Whoops! Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt anything."

Luke was blushing but Mara gave a mock glare and said, "Go away;" before kissing Luke again as if neither of them were there. Wedge and Iella just walked on in and Wedge sniffed the air appreciatively. "Any of that left?"

Mara separated from Luke and glared again. "Not for you. That's what's left of our super romantic date so no touching."

Wedge lifted his hands away from the pizza box and said, "Okay. Fair enough."

Iella was laughing. The thunder rumbled outside as the two newcomers sat on Wedge's bed and cuddled under the blankets there. "What are you two listening too?"

Luke blushed as Mara answered, " _Pride and Prejudice_. It's something we have in common - we both love this book."

Wedge tried to hide a smile as he nodded. It was a little awkward for just a moment before Wedge said, "Don't let us interrupt your little make out session. We'll just be over here doing the same thing."

Luke glared at his friend before Mara said, "And, just like that, the moment's over. Can you hand me another slice of pizza, Farmboy?"

Both Wedge and Iella snorted and Wedge asked, "Um... 'Farmboy'?"

Mara smirked and said, "Yup. He's my farm boy. No one else is allowed to call him that - just me;" and she took a bite of the pizza.

Luke reached over and grabbed another piece himself. "So Luke, last night was absolutely spectacular, to say the least - except the crazy new guy with the gun. That was a little unbalancing. You handled it like a pro though. The next race isn't going to be for awhile though. Apparently the cops and the Prince are getting a little too interested."

Mara looked at Luke and swallowed her pizza before saying, "The Prince? Who's that?"

Iella replied, "The Prince is what a lot of people call the local crime boss. If he were to get a hold of Mazzick or any of the racers, he would undoubtedly take control and levee a 'tax' against everyone involved. That would be bad."

Luke nodded. "The day the Prince gets involved with racing is the day I retire. I'm fine with a little illegal racing but organized crime is a whole other beast."

"Well that's a relief;" chuckled Mara.

 **Updated 10/15/2018**


	6. Chapter 6

It seemed to cause quite the stir around campus when it was discovered that the highly desirable and sought after Mara Jade was dating the sweet and kind though entirely too unremarkable Luke Skywalker. To most people, he was just a farm kid from a small town, where as Mara was an exotic beauty, living with a very wealthy elderly gentleman and his mistress, and the picture of social propriety. They were often seen studying together in the library, the cafeteria, the commons area, the student lounges and the towns coffee shops and cafes. They didn't quite do everything together, working out separately and still managing to spend time with their friends. Several times, some of the other girls on campus came up to Mara and asked what it is in Skywalker that was so wonderful. They rarely meant it to be rude or insulting, rather meaning it out of curiosity. Mara would smile and shrug and say that he was more than his simple farm boy nature made him out to be, that there were layers that you didn't get to see unless you were fortunate enough to be close to him. Leia Organa thought it was the greatest thing ever and Mara had teasingly asked if there were any fellow students that Leia herself was interested in. Leia had blushed and muttered something under her breath, causing Mara to laugh.

Whenever anyone asked Luke about his dating the 'famous' and highly desired Mara Jade, he would always shrug, never saying more than he had to. Lando Calrissian, a Senior, had asked what it was like to be dating her and Luke had replied that it was 'great' and 'a lot of fun', never divulging details. Because of that, many of the students made it their goal to try and steal Mara away from him, reasoning that, since Luke was rather shy and quiet, the relationship had to be awkward and couldn't last. Each one was continually frustrated when Mara would look down on their advances and flatly state, "I have a boyfriend so thanks, but no thanks;" and walk away.

There were a few who found it completely unbelievable that 'someone like Skywalker' as they so harshly put it, could possibly be dating 'someone like Mara Jade'. Surely, SURELY there were far more eligible young men for her to choose from. None of it mattered one bit though because it was clear that Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade were going to be 'Luke and Mara' for some time.

* * *

"So I'm thinking of changing my major;" said Mara offhandedly as she put ketchup, mayo and mustard in tiny little cups to dip here french fries into. Luke looked at her in mild surprise. He had thought that she loved business and such. Her grades were immaculate at any rate but that was probably just because she would excel at whatever she was doing purely because she could. "Oh yeah? What to?"

"Law maybe; this school has a nationally known Legal Program. I've always found stuff like that really interesting - even more so than business and economics. What do you think, Farmboy?"

Luke considered for a moment and said, "Well I think the law has always been interesting. I'm going for criminal justice so I clearly think it's important and I can say with the utmost confidence that you would be a fantastic litigator."

Mara smiled with pleasure and said, "You're just saying that."

Luke chuckled and shook his head. "Not at all, Babe. You're always able to argue me to a stand still if not change my mind."

Mara swatted his arm and said, "Well that's cause I'm always right, Dummy"

"Yes, Dear;" Luke chuckled and received another playful slap from his girlfriend.

He took a bite of his burger and pulled a face. The burger was burnt, cold and hard, the cheese was probably off-brand american and the bun was stale. "Unbelievable;" he muttered, putting the burger down in disgust.

Mara did the same to hers. Seeing that, Luke softly thumped the table. "That's it! Tonight, I'm grilling us burgers and making us some real, home cut and home made fries! I'm tired of this stuff."

Mara's eyes widened before trying a fry and saying, "Well the fries aren't too bad, actually."

Luke tried one and conceded. "Even so, I promise mine are better."

Mara nodded and finished her fries. Luke did the same and they exited the cafeteria. It was cold outside and they were both bundled in thicker coats, hats and Mara even wore gloves to cover her small hands. Mara pulled a couple protein bars from her book bag and handed one to Luke. He pulled a face. "How do you eat these things? They're so nasty."

Mara shrugged and said, "Yup but they have the nutrition those fries didn't and they'll hold you over till dinner. Eat up or else I'll call your aunt and tell her you're not eating properly."

Luke didn't laugh. His aunt had always lectured him thoroughly on eating healthy while he was away at college and if she suspected that Luke wasn't eating healthily, she would probably call and lecture him some more, giving him a detailed description of what someone his age, size and muscle mass should eat each meal based off of something she had read in a magazine. Sighing, Luke took the protein bar, unwrapped it and ate it, the expression on his face clearly stating his protest. Mara patted his shoulder affectionately and said, "Good Farmboy;" before giving him a peck on the cheek.

That got Luke to smile. They walked into their class together and stopped dead. Everyone was looking at them with expressions ranging from curiosity, awe, jealousy, resentment and mild interest. Quickly, they both headed to the last two adjacent seats in the class room and sat down. The guy in the chair in front of them looked back and said, "Did you see the picture of you two going around Facebook?"

They both frowned. Neither had taken the opportunity to check Facebook and when they did, Mara gasped and Luke growled. It was a very inappropriate though admittedly well done photo-shop job of the two of them in a very erotic position. The picture was well chosen so that nothing too incriminating was showing but it was still clear what was going on. Mara hissed, "Who the hell did this?"

The student shrugged and said, "No one knows. It just appeared this morning. It was probably ISB though."

Mara had to avoid grinding her teeth. Her face was beat red with anger. Luke wasn't in much of a better state. Both his hands were fists in his lap. They made it through class and then hurried back to Luke's dorm room, throwing their bags on the floor and sitting on the bed. Mara pulled her knees up and rested her arms on them, hiding from her nose down and Luke leaned forward, looking down at the floor between his feet and resting his elbows on his knees. After some time, Mara said, "I cannot believe this. I have never been so humiliated in my life."

Luke sighed and leaned back rubbing his forehead. "The only good news is that it was obviously fake;" he murmured.

Mara snapped, "That doesn't make a difference! People are still going to think that you and I had sex and there is nothing we can do about it."

She rested her forehead on her crossed arms. Luke managed to chalk up the venom in her comment to her being upset and not let it bother him too much. After a moment of silence, the only thing he could think to do to comfort her is try and put an arm around her. To his surprise, she shook it off, standing and stalking around the room. "What are we going to do, Luke?"

Luke shrugged unhappily. "I have no idea. I don't know enough about all that computer stuff. I've already started reporting every picture I've seen but that's all I can think to do."

Mara snorted. "All they're going to do is re-post it or post another one."

Luke stood and walked over to her. "I'm sorry that this happened, Mara. This is just so infuriating and I have no clue what to do."

Mara sighed and said, "It's not your fault, Luke. I just can't believe that someone would go to such trouble to post a photo of _you_ and _me_ having sex. It's unbelievable."

Suddenly, she registered the very hurt look in Luke's eyes and clapped her hands over her mouth before saying, "I didn't mean it that way, Luke. I promise."

Luke was trying to hide the hurt behind a mask of apathy but he was failing utterly. Her words cut him deeply. In a quiet, husky voice, he said, "I didn't realize that the idea disgusted you so much. I'm sorry this happened to you."

Mara took his hands and said, "Please, Luke, let me explain. I didn't mean it that way."

He looked at her expectantly and she said, "I meant that you and I are not the kind of people to just jump into something like that. We've only been dating a month and we agreed that we wanted to take it slow. I didn't mean that the idea of having sex with you was disgusting, I promise I wasn't. You know how I feel about you."

Luke looked into her green eyes for awhile and then offered a small smile. "I'm happy to hear that, Mara. I still don't know what to do about it though."

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and they both heard a number of voices. Luke sighed and said, "Oh joy. Visitors."

Mara held onto his hand as they went to the door and opened it. They were both surprised to see a large group of their friends outside - Wedge, Iella, Han, Leia, the Rogues, their various girlfriends and boyfriends and Mara's roommate Mirax. They all bustled in with bags of items and Luke said, "What the hell?"

Han said, "We figured with that rotten picture on the internet, we'd come cheer you up. We have food from the gas station, soda, ice cream and, of course, candy for you two."

Mara wanted to find a way to tell them to go away until she smelled the air. The food smelled great and she could see her favorite ice cream brand and flavor in the bag. Luke said, "We appreciate the offer but..." and Mara shushed him saying, "Luke, they have my favorite ice cream. Shhh..."

Luke smiled at her and the others chuckled. The room quickly became very cramped as they handed Luke and Mara the hot food and cracking open bottles of cream soda. While they ate, Luke said, "This is just really embarrassing. How should we even handle it?"

Han took a sip of soda and shrugged. "Why is it embarrassing? You're two consenting adults in a steady relationship. The only reason they did it is because they knew it would bother you."

Luke blurted, "But it never happened!"

Leia picked up where Han left off, surprising them all. "So what? You and Mara know the truth. Who cares what they think? If they give you a hard time just say 'so what'. Once it stops bothering you, or at least looks like it stops bothering, they'll lay off."

"And think that Luke is the luckiest guy on campus;" said Dack Ralter, one of Luke's Rogues.

Luke blushed as the other Rogues murmured in agreement. Mara giggled and waggled her eyebrows at Luke. Winter, Leia's roommate, said in her normal, matter-of-fact manner, "and seriously, there are quite a few young women who would love to learn more about the humble, quiet and sweet Luke Skywalker. If you ask me, all this is going to do is inflame more jealousy and frustration, backfiring. Food for thought;"

Mara nodded and asked, "Out of curiosity, who are these young women?"

"That would be telling;" said Winter before finishing her drink and standing up. "Come on, everyone. Finish your drinks and leave the couple to console each other. We did our good deed for the night."

Han stood and clapped Luke on the shoulder with a wink and a roguish grin. Wedge gave him a brotherly hug before throwing an arm around Iella and leaving. Slowly, the other Rogues and visitors followed, leaving Luke and Mara alone - with entirely too much ice cream, candy, soda and food. They looked at each other and smiled. They started stashing it and Luke murmured, "I think Han's right, you know."

Mara pursed her lips before straightening from stowing the unconsumed soda under Luke's bed and looking at him. "You think we should just tell everyone we had sex?"

Luke shook his head vigorously. "NO, no; not at all. When he said that we are two consenting adults and shouldn't be embarrassed about having sex, that's all."

"So you're saying we should have sex;"

Luke opened his mouth once and closed it; then a second time and closed it again, blushing a dark red. Finally, he said, "I think that if we did, it's no reason to be embarrassed. If they ask, we just reply that if we did, so what? That's all I'm saying."

Mara pursed her lips again and laid down on the bed. "I like the second idea better;"

Luke shot up and banged his head hard on the cabinets he was putting the candy in. "OUCH! Say that again, please;" he croaked in surprise, his voice suddenly lost.

Mara got off the bed, grabbed a cold soda and pressed it against his head where he had hit it, her other hand brushing down his cheek and resting against his chest. "Why don't we have sex? You can't tell me you don't want to. You fidget and adjust yourself when you think I'm not looking every time we make out. And I know I want to. Why shouldn't we?"

She put the bottle down and kissed him. Luke pulled her against him and enjoyed the feeling and flavor of her plump red lips for a few moments before pulling away and saying, "Are you sure? This decision shouldn't be influenced by a bunch of jerks and a stupid photo-shop job."

Mara frowned and said, "Are you saying you don't want to have sex?"

Luke chuckled breathlessly and said, "Believe me, I do. I really, REEEEALLY do but I want it to be because we decided that we were ready to take that step and for no other reason."

Mara bit her lower lip for a moment. It wasn't that she didn't want to. Everything about Luke was very inviting but she didn't want their relationship to be so easily dictated. With a smile, she kissed him again - a long, lingering kiss. She pulled away before it could get too heated. "You're right."

Luke's baby blue eyes went playfully wide and he said, "Say that again? I can't possibly have heard you right."

Mara swatted him and said, "I said 'you're right', Dummy. Now stop gloating and tell me what fun stuff you have planned for us this evening."

Luke chuckled and said, "Well I was going to grill but after that food, I don't think we need to. So what will it be: an audiobook, music, a tv show or a movie?"

Mara pursed her lips again and shivered slightly. It was the well known signal and Luke gave her the sweatshirt he had warn earlier that day. As she put it on, she said, "What other audiobooks do you have?"

Luke grabbed his cracked Ipod and said, "Hmmm... well I have some Tolkein, some Lewis, lots of classics. Hey! It's almost Halloween! How about _Dracula_?"

Mara nodded and they settled in to listen, still eating ice cream and candy and cuddling together under a heavy blanket. After a few minutes in, Mara stopped the book and said, "We have one more very serious thing to talk about, Farmboy."

Luke looked a little concerned. "Okay, what's that, Baby?"

"What are we going to be for Halloween?"

Luke laughed at her seriousness and shrugged. "I dunno. I wasn't planning on doing anything to dress up for."

Mara gasped. "Oh yes you are! You're going to go see your girlfriend in the talent show!"

Luke grinned and said, "Oh and what are you doing for the talent show?"

Mara winked at him and said, "It's a surprise so you'd better come and see it or else it's the dog house for you. And you have to dress up too. Should we do matching costumes? I always thought that was kinda lame. Then again, my last boyfriend didn't really do Halloween so I haven't dressed up in awhile. What do you think?"

Luke chuckled and said, "Well there are a million different people _you_ could go as: Mary Jane from _Spider-man_ , Jessica Rabbit, Wilma Flintstone, Jane Jetson, that random redheaded girl from _Peanuts_ , Daphne from _Scooby-do_ , Josie from _Josie and the Pussycats_ \- the list goes on. Let's not forget Poison Ivy from _Batman_."

Mara looked at him and said, "And you would just love to see me in any one of those costumes, wouldn't you?"

Luke laughed and said, "That's a trap if I've ever heard one. This ice cream is really creamy."

She swatted him playfully. "Well you could be a farmer or a cowboy. How about a medieval peasant?" She snapped her fingers, a look of mischievous triumph on her face as she said, "I got it!"

Luke looked at her expectantly. "You could be Captain America - pre-super soldier serum!"

Luke grabbed her and tickled her mercilessly as tried to wriggle free, shrieking with laughter. After a few moments, and several desperate pleas for him to stop, Mara was released and she caught her breath. Luke tried to look affronted. "I'll have you know that I am no where near that skinny, thank you very much."

Mara gave a very flirtatious smile and said, "I know. I saw you with your shirt off that one time you were working on your fighting techniques. You're right. Pre-SSS probably won't work. How about Captain America, then? I think you'd look great in tights, carrying a painted trashcan lid around."

Luke just looked at her but before he could retort, Mara waved her hand and said, "No, you're right. That wouldn't work either. You're not tall enough."

Luke tickle-attacked her again for another several seconds. When she had, for the second time, regained her breath, she said, "Seriously though, what are you going as?"

Luke shrugged. "Not sure. I'll find something though, never you fear."

 **Updated 10/15/2018**


	7. Chapter 7

As expected, quite a few students approached Luke and Mara about the picture online. To their surprise, most were sympathetic rather than derogatory but there were still a few malicious and even hostile encounters. Natasi Daala sneered at Mara, asking if she had any standards at all and Max Veers and his buddies would constantly harass Luke about it. Each time though, they would shrug it off and largely ignore them. When the Iota Sigma Beta boys cornered Luke in the library, one of them asked, "So how was it, Joe Dirt?"

Luke gave a huge grin and replied, "Wouldn't you like to know."

The guy sneered and said, "Oh please! We all know it didn't actually happen, Skywalker. Mara Jade does have _some_ self respect after all."

Luke just shrugged. "Whatever you say. Is there something I can help you with or are you just here to attempt to mock me for something and then deny that it ever happened?"

"We warned you once, Kid. You and her..."

Luke waved it away and shouldered his way through. "Yeah, yeah. 'We're not in the same social circles and we're not compatible so it will never work out.' Whatever you say. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a really hot lunch date with a certain gorgeous redhead."

Whistling cheerfully, Luke left the ISB boys fuming.

* * *

Mara sat at a table, waiting eagerly for Luke. For one thing, he had packed a lunch for both of them so that they wouldn't have to suffer the cafeteria's nasty food. For another, she just really, really liked him and spending time with him was always the highlight of her day. She enjoyed spending time with her friends and really liked them but it wasn't the same as being with Luke. Suddenly, someone sat down across from her - someone decidedly NOT Luke. "Hello Miss Jade. How are you today?"

It was Melina Carniss, the head cheerleader and someone who Mara didn't really care for. "I'm doing alright, Miss Carniss. Can I help you with something?"

She nodded and said, "Everyone knows that the picture of you and Luke Skywalker is fake and anyone with half a brain probably knows that there isn't any truth behind it. However, I am curious - what is Luke Skywalker like? We all know he's quiet and sweet and shy and a gentleman but what is he really like once you get him to open up?"

Mara smiled, only too willing to talk about her boyfriend's attributes even if she was a little guarded about it. "He's all those things but he's much more out going once you get to know him. He is perfectly considerate and will do anything for anyone. Whoever said good boys finish last never met him. He also has a bit of an adventurous and spontaneous side. Luke's also a great cook."

Melina's eyes turned a little dreamy. "If only I could find someone like that."

Mara smirked and said, "Good luck, just keep away from Luke. He's MY Farmboy!"

Melina giggled and stood, "Speaking of - here he comes. Have a nice day, Miss Jade."

As she walked away, Luke walked up. "Hello, Beautiful;" he said and leaned down to give her a kiss before sitting. She smiled and returned in a smokey voice, "Hello, Handsome. What do you have for me?"

Luke grinned and handed her a small aluminum foil-wrapped package. Inside was a wrap with chicken, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and so on. Mara took a bite and said, "This is delicious. There is no way you made this yourself."

Luke looked affronted. "Yes I did. So, how many classes are left today? I heard one of them - psych I think - was cancelled. That's it for me. How about you?"

Mara pouted and said, "I still have government to go through but I'm thinking of ditching."

Luke laughed, almost choking on his food. "That's hilarious - you ditching a class - it will never happen."

Mara tried to glare at him but his laugh was infectious. "Hey! I could skip class if I wanted to!"

Luke laughed harder, nearly rolling out of his seat. Mara herself was giggling pretty hard at the idea but still managed to say, "Fine. Since you're not being nice to me, you don't get to see me for the rest of the day until the party and talent show tonight."

Luke regained control of himself and said, "I'm sorry, Mara. You just never skip class. You could be dying of something and you'd still go to class if it was still on."

Mara turned her nose up to him and said, "Nope. You laughed at me and there is no way I'm changing my mind."

Luke sighed and said, "Okay;" and he did his very best to look dejected but that only caused Mara to giggle more.

"You aren't very good at the whole pouting thing, Farmboy. Here, let me show you;" and she pouted, her lower lip trembling just barely and she said in a quiet voice, "Why did you laugh at me?"

Luke sighed and stood, bending across and kissing her on the forehead. When he sat back down, she smiled. "See? That's how you do it."

Luke smiled and said, "I'll never do it as well as you. Seriously though, are you not going to hang out with me today?"

Mara reached across and took one of his scarred and callused hands. "I actually can't. There are a couple homework assignments I need to do and I need to get my costume ready for tonight."

Luke looked truly disappointed but he understood. "Okay. Actually, that gives me a little time to work on my car. I need to change out the breaks, the oil and the spark plugs. I guess it will work out."

"What are you going as tonight?" asked Mara.

Luke grinned and said, "You'll see tonight."

* * *

Later, after working on his car, getting cleaned up and changing into his costume, Luke headed to the gymnasium where the party and talent show were being held. He felt a little ridiculous in his costume but since there were swaths of people dressed like animals, like movie and tv characters, like sports players, like superheroes and everything else in between, he quickly felt less foolish. In the gym, a large number of round tables and chairs were set up near a dais that would act as the stage for the talent show. It allowed all kinds of entries. There was a magician, a comedy act, several different singers, some full sized bands and so on. Mara had tried to convince him to enter but he couldn't think of talent that he could perform in public so he decided to be a spectator. The shows were mostly pretty good but they all paled to his girlfriend's performance. The lights went down and music began to play - slower, swaying music and a spotlight turned on, falling on Mara Jade. She wore a long, green, shimmery dress that nicely hugged her figure and her curly, gold-red hair was down. The color of her dress set off her emerald eyes and, upon seeing him in the crowed, she gave Luke a sultry wink before beginning to sing.

 _When marimba rhythms start to play,  
dance with me, make me sway,  
like a lazy ocean hugs the shore  
hold me close, sway me more_

Luke's mouth was hanging wide open as he stared and listened. Mara was absolutely hypnotic as she swayed and turned to the music. Her voice was beautiful and the music, played by four of their fellow students, was perfectly rehearsed.

 _Like a flower bending in the breeze,  
Bend with me, sway with ease  
When you dance you have a way with me  
stay with me, sway with me_

Luke closed his mouth and gulped and took a sip from the cup of punch in his hand. Mara looked at him again and smiled as she sang. He smiled back and sat down in one of the chairs nearest to the dais. Mara sashayed towards him, her hips swaying to the soft, slow beat of the music as she sang. When she reached him, she eased into his lap and brushed his hair with an amused smile. Between two stanzas she placed a kiss on his forehead, leaving the perfect outline of her lips in red lipstick. With that, she stood and walked back up to the stage and finished her act. As the music slowly died, the gym erupted with cheers, clapping, catcalls and whistling. Mara smiled and bowed before she and her musicians left the stage. Luke met her behind the stage, a huge, ridiculous grin on his face. "You are an absolute goddess, Mara. You never told me you could sing."

She beamed at him and said, "Thanks, Baby. Did you really like it?"

Luke's blue eyes widened. "Like it? You were angelic - absolutely divine."

To his surprise, Mara's cheeks turned red and she looked down almost shyly, "Shush, Luke. You're making me blush."

She looked back up and giggled, wiping the lipstick off his forehead. "I'm going to go get changed really fast, my love. I think you'll like my costume too."

Luke frowned and looked at her shimmering green dress. "I thought this was your costume."

Mara laughed. "What am I supposed to be dressed as exactly?"

As she walked away, a ridiculous grin crossed Luke's face. "My girlfriend is so hot;" he said to himself out loud, not even realizing he was saying it.

From behind him, a disgusted voice said, "You're absolutely right. She is way too hot for you at any rate. Tell me something, Farmer John, what the hell makes you think that you're good enough for her? Her adopted father is the CEO of the largest company in the nation and she has gotten the highest education from the best private schools. The only reason she came here is because this University has the best programs in the nation for Business, Law, Criminal Justice and Nursing. You probably went to some hick-town highschool surrounded by fields of corn and cow pastures."

Luke laughed out loud at the other boy's picture. The truth was that it wasn't horribly far from the truth. The school and its facilities had a large cattle ranch on one side and tall fields of corn on the other. Behind it was a large lake and park area. "I may not be good enough for her but it really doesn't matter now, does it? She doesn't think so or, at the very least, doesn't care if she does think so. Besides, what's so terrible about Hick Town High. It's well known for its sports teams, its drive-a-tractor-to-school day and is probably the last Highschool in the country where the principle will go into the school parking lot with a student to compare hunting rifles and shotguns."

Vak just sneered and said, "My point is that..."

"No wait, don't tell me. Let me guess, 'She and I are in different social circles and it would be best if our relationship stayed completely friendly and didn't go anywhere.' Is that what you were going to say, Vak?"

The other boy just glared at him. Luke chuckled. "Look, Vak, I don't really care about your elitist social designations. Have a nice night and enjoy the party, boys."

With that, he turned and walked towards the refreshment tables. He nibble on the food and refilled his glass with punch. When he went to take a sip, he pulled a face before going and pouring it down the drinking fountain's drain. "It's just not a party if someone doesn't spike the punch;" he muttered to himself.

Suddenly, a small hand tapped his shoulder. Turning around, Luke's jaw dropped. Mara stood their, a smile on her face, her hands on her hips and those hips cocked to one side. She wore a skin tight fake leather jumpsuit that was black in color. On her wrists were gauntlets of some kind and her slim, curved waist had a belt around it. Her long red hair was down and the curls straightened ever so slightly, giving her hair a wavy appearance. The neckline was just low enough to tease at just enough cleavage to drive Luke to distraction. In short, she looked so sexy that Luke had to drink some water before he could speak and his voice was still a little hoarse. All he could manage at first was, "Wow..."

Mara giggled and said, "So what do you think? Do I look like Black Widow?"

Luke nodded and said, "It would be insulting to say that you look like Black Widow. You blow her out of the water."

Mara smirked and did a sexy little spin. "Really?"

Luke's head bobbed vigorously and Mara smiled with pleasure. "And I take it you're supposed to be a greaser or something - like from _Grease?_ "

Luke nodded, feeling a little foolish. His costume was simple - a white t-shirt, blue jeans, black high topped shoes and a black leather jacket. His hair had grease of some kind in it and was slicked perfectly for the look. Mara giggled and said, "Well come on, Stud, let's go dancing."

Luke followed her reluctantly, muttering as he did. "I'm not real good at dancing."

"Well, I'll teach you some stuff;" replied Mara, holding on to his hand and dragging him towards the area where the other students were dancing. "Come on. You can dance like a butterfly and sting like a be when working on your crazy martial arts footwork. This is only slightly different."

She turned out to be right and pretty soon, Luke was dancing with her and didn't look too terribly ridiculous doing it either. The first few songs were faster dancing songs and Mara swayed, twisted and spun hypnotically. Then a slower song came on and Luke grinned, bowing and offering her his hand. Mara took it and allowed him to pull her close. She laid her head in his shoulder and placed her forehead against his left cheek. Time seemed to slow down as they gently swayed to the music. Their friends watched with smiles, elbowing and nudging each other knowingly. Leia Organa, dressed as a tomboy in overalls, a tied up button down shirt and a straw hat, was grinning when Han Solo, dressed as an mobster in a well fitted pinstripe suit complete with a fedora and everything, proffered his hand. "Want to dance?"

Leia smiled and nodded. It wasn't long before her and Han were lost in each other's eyes just as Luke and Mara were.

For the next couple hours, Luke and Mara danced on and off throughout the night - sometimes watching the others, sometimes conversing with their friends and class mates. One of the other students was going around taking pictures for the event board and year book. He got a great picture of Mara on Luke's lap, decked out as she was in her costume, her red-gold head thrown back in laughter at something he had said while Luke tried desperately not to look down her outfit.

After several hours, Mara was getting tired. Luke looked at her as she yawned for the third time and asked, "Are you ready to head out yet, Babe? It's getting late, even for a Friday night."

Mara took his hand and turned it to check his watch. It was just passed midnight. She nodded and said, "Let me grab my dress and bag and then we can go."

Before she had made it three steps, a tall figure stepped in front of her and said in a proud, almost regal voice, "Mara, I haven't had the pleasure of a dance with you yet. Would you do me the honor?"

His name was Derran Takkar and he had a reputation as a rich, arrogant and elitist young man who usually got what he wanted one way or another. His father was a government official who had quite the following and his family was said to be close to Sheev Palpatine, Mara's legal guardian. With a polite smile, Mara replied, "No, thank you, Derran. I'm exhausted and was just about to leave. Maybe next time."

She went to walk past him but Derran lifted a forestalling hand, frowning slightly. "One dance isn't too much to ask, is it?"

Luke took a couple steps towards them but then stopped, remaining within ear shot but deciding that Mara wouldn't appreciate him jumping in all over-protectively. They had gotten into small arguments about it in the past. She leveled a cold look at Derran and said, "This time it is, Derran. I'm very tired, I had a long day and I'd like to head back to my dorm room now."

They stared at each other for several long moments before he stepped to the side, muttering as he did, "I just don't get how you can be with that Skywalker kid when there are a hundred and one far more eligible guys here. For crying out loud, he grew up on a farm, raised by his uncle and aunt in a nowhere county."

Mara turned on him and snapped, "And maybe if you were, your giant ego wouldn't get in the way of making friends and meaningful relationships. Goodnight, Derran. Tell your daddy I said 'hi'."

With that, she marched away towards the women's locker room. Luke followed at a distance to wait down the hall from the locker room, shooting a rather perturbed-looking Derran a smirk as he passed. It didn't take long for Mara to gather her gym bag and garment bag from the locker room. As soon as she walked out, Luke said, "Let me carry something for you."

With a grateful smile, Mara handed Luke the garment bag that contained her green dress. Together, they headed out into the night back towards Mara's apartment. the commons area was on the way and there was a group of drunken football players in the commons area, laughing about whatever it was that jocks laughed at when they were hammered. Seeing Luke and Mara, they made their way over, laughing and shouting as they did. "Hey - hey, Luke! Love the costume man! You look like you stepped out of _Grease_. And Mara, damn! You look great!"

Both Luke and Mara laughed. The football players were largely goofy, harmless guys with bigger hearts than they ever let on and were always polite to Luke and Mara. Four of them walked with the couple back towards Mara's dorm, laughing and telling drunkenly as they went. A couple times, Luke tried to shush them, chuckling as he warned them about campus security and local police officers. They always tried to quiet down but it never lasted more than a few seconds. As they went up the walk towards the dorm, one of the guys put an arm around his shoulder and tried to whisper to him, though the others could still hear him. "Tell me, Luke, did you and Mara actually-" and he waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Luke blushed and shook his head. "No we didn't. We decided to take it slow for awhile before getting into that."

With a heavy hand, the guy clapped Luke on the back and said loudly, "Good for you, Buddy. That's the way a real gentleman should act!"

Mara covered her mouth to hide a giggle. When they were at the door, the four football players stumbled off, laughing and joking together while Luke looked at Mara. She looked so good in her Halloween costume that he didn't want to leave her. Mara stretched her hand out and asked, "Would you like to come in? The RA's are all probably still at the party so we won't get in trouble."

Luke nodded and they headed up together.

Mara's dorm was clean and Luke was facing the door as she got changed. He heard her laugh quietly behind him and say, "Such a gentleman, letting a girl change without even stealing a look."

Luke smiled and said, "And it only took every ounce of my self control to do it, especially after seeing you in that outfit. You know, I never had a Black Widow fantasy until you wore that but now it seems you gave me one."

Mara wrapped her arms around him from behind and said, "Really? You like me in that outfit that much, huh?"

"Skin tight leather, a low neckline, having the body, face and eyes of a goddess - yup I liked it that much;" said Luke, placing his hands on hers affectionately.

After just a moment, Mara said, "Turn around, Farmboy;"

Luke turned and smiled at her. She wore silky tank top and soft pajama pants. Even just in that, she looked so beautiful. "Can you stay for an hour or so? It's not like we have anything going on tomorrow, right?" she asked.

Luke nodded and took his shoes and leather jacket off. They snuggled together on her bed, kissing each other tenderly. Mara kept her hands on Luke's chest while his were wrapped around her, one hand brushing up and down her back. When he suddenly felt soft skin, he stopped and pulled the silky shirt back down, covering her lower back. Mara smiled and laid her head against his chest and they settled in to do their favorite thing when hanging out - listen to an audiobook. It had been a great day and Luke couldn't be happier, even if he had tried to be. Looking down at the girl in his arms, Luke smiled. "You are so gorgeous;" he couldn't help but murmur as he brushed a hand through her curls.

Mara gave a sleepy smile and said, "You're just trying to get into bed with me."

Luke couldn't help but chuckle quietly. "I AM in bed with you."

Mara shivered slightly and Luke pulled a blanket over them. Within the next half hour, they were both fast asleep, their audiobook droning on as they slept.

 **Hope you enjoyed. Just a shout out to Dean Martin for his song 'Sway'. It's a favorite of mine though I heard a much slower, more sultry cover a couple years back that inspired this. Anyhow, credit goes to him. I hope everyone enjoyed. Please read and review.**

 **Updated 10/15/2018**


	8. Chapter 8

Luke woke feeling warm and comfortable, leaning back against something with his head and upper back pillowed nicely. Aside from a blanket, their was something resting against his body - something soft, warm and breathing. Looking down, Luke saw a mess of golden-red curls, a pair of bare shoulders and the thin, blue straps of a tank top. Everything came back time him then. He chuckled, realizing that he had fallen asleep and not gone back to his dorm after the party. Lifting one of his hands from Mara's back, he gently stroked her silky hair. Luke had a thing for Mara's hair. It was such a beautiful, vibrant color and it was so silky. Suddenly, Mara gave a tiny moan and shifted. She looked up at him, her eyes only half open but still enough for Luke to see her vivid green eyes. His breath caught slightly. He had a thing for her eyes too. In fact, Luke had a thing for just about everything about Mara. Sleepily, she murmured, "That felt nice. Keep going;" as she laid her head back down on his chest.

Luke oblidged, gently stroking the silky hair. He leaned down and kissed her head, still able to smell the slight wiff of perfume from the night before. Mara made a quiet purring noise of pleasure. After another few minutes, she lifted her head again, her eyes more opened and alert. "Morning, you;" she said. Luke smiled and replied with the few lines of a song. "'Good morning, Beautiful. How was your night? Mine was wonderful with you by my side. I open my eyes and see your sweet face, it's a good morning, beautiful day.'"

Mara giggled and sat up a little, brushing his still greasy hair. "You are such a sap."

Luke's eyes flickered down and then back to her face with a slight blush. "Um... you may want to fix your tank. It's riding pretty low."

Mara's smile grew mischievous. "Oh? Does that bother you?"

Luke's blush grew deeper as he struggled to maintain eye contact. "Only because I want desperately to look but that would be disrespectful."

Mara giggled and said, "What if I want you to look?"

Luke cleared his throat but Mara sat up and adjusted her tank top. "Sometimes it's just so much fun torturing you, Luke. Burr, it's cold in here."

Luke rubbed her bare arms gently but vigorously as he looked around. One of his sweatshirts was hanging over a chair. He quickly got up and retrieved it for her. She put it on and then kissed him a thank you. When she had released him, she asked, "What's for breakfast? I don't have much here."

Luke pursed his lips and was about to respond when she kissed him again. It was a lingering kiss that promised to grow more intense if it continued. Luke broke away and smiled and Mara frowned. "Why did you stop?"

Luke chuckled and that blush returned. "This soon after waking up, I am afraid my pants would get a little tight if I kept going."

Mara grinned and leaned in. "Maybe you should take them off then."

Luke groaned. "Why do you insist on torturing me?"

Mara giggled and hugged him. "I'm sorry. I know it's terrible of me. Let me get changed and we can go get some breakfast at that little diner. I feel like pancakes, eggs and bacon."

Luke chuckled and said, "Alright but I'm gonna need to get changed before we do. I must really stink."

He turned around to give Mara some semblance of privacy. Mara started to giggle uncontrollably. "Hey Luke, what color bra should I wear?"

Luke gulped and asked, "What?"

"What color bra should I wear?"

"uh..."

Mara giggled more. "Should I go with a light blue or maybe a rich red? What about black and lacy?"

"Mara;" groaned Luke, putting his head in his hands as his over active imagination summoned mental images of Mara in each of those colors. It was playing hell with his imagination. Another chorus of giggles and then. "You know what, I think I'll do pink. I have matching panties for that one."

It was all Luke could do from whipping around and looking at her - the thought that she was in nothing but matching pink undergarments was absolutely torturous. Suddenly, he heard, "uh-oh..." behind him.

Luke was too afraid to ask what was wrong. Mara's voice was embarrassed and tentative as she said, "Um... Luke, could you give me a hand? I having trouble with this bra clasp."

Luke shook his head. "There is no way..."

"I promise that I'm mostly dressed. I have a shirt on and everything I just need to reconnect the clasp and I'm not able to do it for some reason."

Taking a deep breath, Luke turned around. She was wearing leggings, black boots and, true to her word, the bra was pink. Gulping and zeroing in on the troublesome garment to the exclusion of everything else, he quickly fastened it and Mara pulled her top down. She was wearing black leggings, boots and a sweater dress that hugged her figure nicely. To Luke's surprise, she was blushing. "Thank you;" she said almost timidly before kissing him.

Suddenly, Luke felt inspired with mischief and he said, "No problem. I can help you take it off later too if you'd like."

Mara blushed and gasped. "My, my aren't you getting bold, Farmboy. Tell you what, behave yourself today and I might just let you do that."

It was Luke's turn to blush. Mara smiled and said, "Let's go."

* * *

An hour later, they were comfortably seated in a booth at one of the town's quaint little diners. Mara had incessantly teased Luke while he had gotten changed, refusing to turn around after he had a clean pair of pants on and making flirtatious and appreciative remarks about his body while he finished getting dressed, causing him to fall into a permanent state of blushing. At the booth, she reached across and took his hand. "I'm sorry. I give you such a hard time and you put up with it so patiently."

Luke chuckled and stroked her hand. "With the exception of extreme and borderline painful sexual frustration, it's not all that hard to deal with. Cold showers are becoming my best friend since I've started dating you."

Mara sighed and said, "Yeah... mine too."

They were quiet for a bit. Suddenly, Han Solo and Leia Organa walked through the doors. Luke was about to call them but Mara put a finger to her lips, silencing him. They waited to listen as the waitress sat Han and Leia right behind them. The couple didn't seem to notice Luke and Mara as they sat. In a quiet, almost shy voice, Leia said, "It's awfully sweet of you to take me to breakfast, Han. Thank you."

The older man's voice was easy as he replied, "Well I figure I antagonize you enough. I might as well do something nice to you every once and a while. Thanks for saying 'yes'."

Mara's eyes shined with mirth and pleasure and Luke covered his mouth to stifle a chuckle. They listened as long as they could until their waitress came with a big pot of coffee, a basket of creamers, sugar and to ask for their orders. Luke and Mara tried to be quiet but it didn't work. Han peaked his head around and grinned. "Hey! Morning you two. Luke, Wedge texted and said that you didn't make it back to your dorm last night. Everything alright?"

The sparkle in the senior's told that he knew that everything was just fine. Leia poked her head around to, her face mildly interested while her own eyes sparkled. Luke blushed and said, "Yeah. Everything's fine. We were hanging out and fell asleep."

They both studied Luke and Mara. Han was a shrewd individual. "You know what, I believe you."

Luke and Mara rolled their eyes. Mara got a mischievous grin on her face. "How bout you two? Most people thought you annoyed each other to the point of violence almost. Since when did you two have breakfast together?"

Leia shrugged but her cheeks had just a hint of pink to them. "We don't always fight. We actual get along fairly well, thank you very much."

Mara looked at Luke and smirked. "Told you it was just sexual tension;" she said though she had never said any such thing allowed but the effect the words had were just too good.

Leia's face turned bright red and she gasped, "Mara! It is NOT sexual tension! We just never took the time to get to know one another."

Han covered his face and Luke grinned. "So... you two, um, got to know each other last night, did you?"

Leia's mouth fell open and she covered her face. "Shut up, Luke!"

Mara laughed and nearly spilled her coffee. "It's okay. You two are both consenting adults. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"We didn't do anything last night;" said Han. "In fact, we basically had the same night as you. She came to the house for awhile and we talked and watched tv until we fell asleep."

Luke and Mara nodded. In their opinion, it was about time Han and Leia stop circling each other and actually try to have a mature, civilized relationship. Just then, the waitress gave them their meals. While he was eating, Luke's phone buzzed a couple times. He had tried to make it his policy not to have his phone out constantly when hanging out with Mara. With an indulgent smile, Mara swallowed her food and said, "Go ahead, Baby. I don't mind."

Luke smiled sheepishly and looked at his phone. The messages said that their would be a race in the city that night. It was strange. Not much time had passed between their last race and the present. That was doubly odd considering that the cops had gotten involved with the last race. He gave Mara the news and she frowned. "Are you going?"

Luke hesitated and then shook his head. "I'm going to talk to the Rogues about it but I don't think I want to. I have a bad feeling about this, Mara. It's just way too soon since out last race especially given the circumstances the last race ended in."

"What if the Rogues insist on going?" Mara asked quietly.

Luke thought about it but then decided. "If they do, I'll go but not to race. I'll just go to be there in case of trouble."

Mara's green eyes widened. "If you think there's going to be trouble then why on earth would you go?"

Luke shrugged just a little unhappily. "I can't just let them go without me into a potentially risky situation. I would feel terrible if something happened and I wasn't there to at least help."

Mara nodded. She wanted to be frustrated but that was just Luke - loyal and self-sacrificing to a fault. It was one of the things she most admired about him. With a heavy sigh, she said, "Well if you're going then so am I."

Luke opened his mouth to argue but she slapped the table, looking at him sternly. "I said 'I'm going!' If you don't like it, tough. If you're going then so am I."

Luke couldn't help it. He smiled and said, "You are so sexy when you're being authoritative."

Mara grinned and said, "Yeah? You like it when I take control?"

"I dunno;" Luke quipped. "but I can't wait to find out someday."

They both laughed and Mara gave him a sultry wink. "Soon, Farmboy. Soon."

Luke felt his hear skip a beat. _Soon!_

* * *

Luke had talked to Wedge and the Rogues and, no matter what he said, they still planned to race. Wedge was a little chagrined that Luke wasn't going to but in the end, he grinned and said, "Well I guess it's my turn to take the spotlight this time. Sounds good."

Luke chuckled. Despite all his misgivings, a small part of him was looking forward to watching the races later that night. Later, when he and Mara were hanging out in her dorm, she asked him, "So what should I wear tonight?"

Luke looked at her. She was still wearing the snug, gray sweater-dress that didn't quite reach her knees, the black leggings and the black boots. She had showered and washed her hair, allowing it to dry into its natural curls as she fluffed it lightly. Apparently, he had lost track of how long he had been staring because she turned around and crossed her arms with a patient smirk on her face. "Earth to Luke, Earth to Luke - are you going to answer my question or just ogle me?"

Luke chuckled and said, "I think I'll just ogle you."

Mara walked up to him slipped into his lap. "I take it. That means you like what I'm wearing already?"

As she wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders, Luke wrapped his around her waist and said, "Yup. If you dress like a racer groupy then you'll have racers ogling and groping you all night. I'd rather not have to break any hands."

Mara laughed. It was going to be an interesting night.

 **Updated 10/15/2018**


	9. Chapter 9

"I really, really don't like this, Luke;" said Mara for the sixth time.

They were surrounded by racers and racing groupies waiting for Wedge and whoever else was racing tonight to finish their car checks and line up. Luke put an arm around her and said, "I know. I have a really bad feeling about this whole thing. There is no way that a race should happen so soon after the last one. It's been less than a month since that one and I was expecting it to be closer to two months between them. I just hope Wedge's car can get him across the line quickly so that we can get out of here."

His own car was disguised from it's regular look. Magnetic strips the same color as his car's paint were placed over the cars painted on the rear bumper and over the racing stripes as well. The license plates were changed out for far more normal looking ones than the vanity plates the read 'RGUE LDR'. In short, it looked just like a regular car. Everything seemed to be going smoothly - until eight black SUVs with tinted windows pulled up and men in suits stepped out. Luke swore and immediately said in a low voice to the Rogues, "Get out of here. NOW."

He turned and walked quickly over to Wedge. Wedge was already hurrying to the drivers seat when Luke said, "We need to go, Wedge."

Wedge nodded, a look of frustration on his face. "I take it that means we're retiring tonight?"

Luke nodded. The majority of the Rogues drove away at a leisurely pace, avoiding the black SUVs. However, when Wedge tried to, three of the them took off after him. Luke cursed and ran back to his car. Han and Leia and Mara were standing there and Luke said, "Mara, I need you to go with Han and Leia. You two get her back to campus. I need to help Wedge."

As he spoke, he was pulling the magnet strips off his car, showing its true colors. Mara grabbed his arm. "I'm coming with you, Luke."

Luke's expression was one of pleading as he said, "Please, Mara, _please_ go with them. I can't put you in danger like this. Those guys have no qualms about killing or mistreating anybody. I need to know that you're safe."

Tears were beginning to show in Mara's eyes. She squeezed them shut and nodded. Luke kissed her forehead and then ducked into his car, firing the engine. Mara took a step back and Luke tore out of there, heading the direction that he knew Wedge would take. They had several pre-determined routes that they would take and the route taken could be determined by which direction and which street was taken when the pursuit began. It was only a matter of minutes before Luke found the three SUV's had Wedge cornered. He pulled up between the men getting out of the SUV's and Wedge and rolled down his driver's side window. "Hey;" he called brazenly, even though his legs were wobbly.

One of them said, "Hey that's him! That's that Skywalker kid who keeps winning all the races!"

"That's right;" called Luke. "If you want me, come and get me."

As soon as he saw that several had ran back into their SUV's, he tore off at top speed. Wedge did the same thing at the same time, both heading in opposite directions. Luke knew that Wedge could loose one SUV with ease and he would have only a little more trouble with two. He zipped down the road, through alley ways, into and back out of parking garages until he found a hotel with a full parking lot. Fast as he could, he pulled out of sight of the SUV's and parked between two other cars. Quickly, he ducked out of his car and put the strips back on before going into his trunk and changing his license plates out for another two. Lastly, he added a couple bumper sticker magnets as well which he slapped on. He had to stop and duck behind a delivery van when one of the black SUV's came by. It slowed and seemed to stop by his car but then moved on after only a moment. Luke sighed with relief before finishing his work, getting back into his car and pulling onto the street at a leisurely pace. When as soon as he made it to the exit ramp getting onto the highway, he called Wedge. When Wedge answered, Luke sighed with relief. "Wedge, you made it out okay?"

"I did, Luke. Thanks for the save."

Luke chuckled. "No problem, buddy. I take it you're heading back to campus. When you get back, I suggest you double and triple check all your social media privacy settings. I know I am."

"Will do. Thanks again, Luke. You'd better call Mara."

Luke nodded and they both hung up. Immediately, Luke did as Wedge suggested. The phone didn't even make it through a full ring before she answered, her voice low, barely daring to be hopeful. "Luke?"

Luke smiled, "It's me, Mara. I'm on my way back and got off clean."

"Thank God!" she said. "When you get back here, I am going to KICK YOUR ASS! Don't you EVER scare me like that again, EVER, do you hear me, Luke Skywalker? Dammit, I am so messed up right now that I don't know whether to be upset or happy or what."

Her voice was choking with relieved tears. "I know, Babe. I know;" said Luke soothingly. "And I'll be so happy to be back that I won't even complain about it or try to stop you."

"Are you ever racing again?" she asked, her voice almost challenging.

Luke chuckled and said, "Nope. I'm officially retired from this moment forward."

"Good." she said.

They stayed on the phone until he pulled into Han's house parking lot. As soon as his car door was shut, the door to the house was opened and in the pool of light was briefly illuminated red-gold hair and pale skin. And then she was in his arms, holding him so tightly that he couldn't breath but he didn't care. He didn't need to breath. Then, just like that, she was angry again. She let go and began thudding her hands against his chest and growling at him. "Never, ever again. Do you hear me? You scared me to death!"

Luke let her get her frustration out before pulling her into a mind melting, sense stealing kiss. She gave low moan and leaned into the kiss. When they separated, she whispered. "Your place or mine?"

Luke looked a little confused. "It's past midnight. Aren't you afraid of getting caught?"

She shook her head and kissed him again with her own mind numbing kiss. "Your place or mine?"

Luke chuckled but before he could answer, Han and Leia and Wedge and several others piled out of the house. They all hugged Luke and slapped him on the back and it was clear to everyone that Mara was growing even more impatient. Wedge whispered in his ear, "I'm staying with Iella tonight, Luke."

Luke nodded and took Mara's hand, yawning into his free one for effect. "I'm sorry, you guys, but I need to go to bed. I'm exhausted."

* * *

As soon as the dorm room door shut behind them, Mara had Luke pressed against it, kissing him heatedly, her entire body pressed against his. After a moment, she backed away and grabbed the bottom of her sweater dress. She had it lifted above her waist when Luke said, "Woah, now. Wait a second, Mara. Are you sure this is what you want? Are you sure you're ready?"

Mara completed her movement and said earnestly, "Yes, Luke, I'm sure that I want this. I want YOU. It took a freakin' mob boss chasing you for me to figure it out, but I want you and I care very much about you."

Luke hesitated and Mara flung herself at him, kissing him again. Between kisses, she murmured, "Please, Luke. Please."

His hands on her smooth, warm skin, Luke returned the kisses. She smelled and tasted so good and he knew that he was as ready as she was. They separated and he smiled down at her. "My offer still stands from earlier?"

Mara cocked and eyebrow. "What offer?"

Luke ran a ringer along one of the shoulder straps of her pink bra which was still hidden beneath a white, thin strapped tank top. Mara smiled and turned around, lifting her tank top just enough. Luke took a deep breath, hardly believing that this was finally happening.

* * *

Mara woke the next morning and immediately, a foolish grin crossed her face. She shifted slightly and snuggled even closer to Luke, reveling in the feeling of his body against hers without the regular barrier of clothing between them. It was amazing. Her head lay against his chest and she contentedly listened to his heart beating the steady rhythm of slumber. After awhile and after she had drifted in and out of consciousness several more times, Luke stirred and his breathing pattern changed as well. Mara looked up into his drowsy blue eyes. They widened, narrowed and then widened again comically, causing her to giggle. "Morning, Sleepy Head."

Luke put a hand to his mouth and yawned before replying, "Good morning, yourself."

He was blushing and looked a little shy which Mara thought was absolutely adorable. She climbed up his body slightly so she could reach his lips with hers and she kissed him. "Sleep okay?" he asked.

Mara 'mmhmmm'ed' as she kissed him again. They both wanted to ask the same question - how was it? However, neither of them had the courage to ask for it first. Luke solved the problem by saying, "Have I ever told you that you're magnificent, Mara?"

She blushed and ducked her head. "Um... yes;" she said, her face bright red with embarrassment.

"Well I had no clue what I was talking about until last night."

Mara blushed deeper and looked back up at him. "You were pretty impressive yourself. I think I just found my new favorite thing to do."

Luke blushed and averted his eyes. Mara giggled again and used a hand to pull his face back towards her, kissing him again.

* * *

They didn't get out of bed until noon. This time, when anyone saw them walking by, they could tell something fundamental had changed in their relationship and it wasn't long before rumors began to spread. During lunch one day, Talon Karrde sat down across from Luke and Mara and said, "I'm dreadfully curious, you know. It's obvious to everyone that something is going on between you two but there is no real evidence of anything - just a very general sense picked up by the observant."

Mara glared balefully at him. To Luke's surprise, she shrugged and said, "It's simple, really. We had sex. There. Big mystery solved."

Talon was a little taken aback. "That's it? The first time you two had sex changed you both that much?"

Mara shrugged. "I guess so. If there is such a change, that must have had something to do with it. Is there anything else you wanted?"

Talon looked at Luke and cocked an eye. "I heard that you aren't racing anymore. That's a pity. I used to make quite a lot of money off of you. Can I interest you in some other less than legal yet less dangerous pass times that will also make you some nice cash on the side?"

Luke chuckled. "Information always costs something with you, Talon. Thanks, but I think I'll pass."

"It would be free, courtesy of the money I made off of you. Look, I have it all right here. If you don't want it, smash the thumb drive and toss it in a trash can. If you want in, just show up to one of the events."

Talon stood, leaving a small, red memory stick on the table. Luke looked at it like it was a venomous spider before scooping it up. Mara gave him a hard look. "It can't hurt to just look, Babe;" he mentioned before kissing her just above her right ear. She humphed but it didn't have a lot of force. She was still way too happy with life to care.

 **Updated 10/15/2018**


	10. Chapter 10

Mara and Luke snuggled together and looked at the information on the thumb drive that Talon Karrde had given Luke. The young information broker had his fingers in a lot of pies. There was gambling on sports, underground fighting, motorcycle racing and so much more. They all looked intriguing but Luke wasn't really interested in getting into anything that could take them anywhere near the Princess's territory. After an hour, he sighed and closed everything down before pulling the thumb drive. "It doesn't look like there's anything I would be interested in. It's a shame. If nothing else, the extra money would have come in handy."

Mara snuggled up to him and said, "It's fine. At least now I'll know you're safe and sound. Besides, if you run out of money, I guess I'll just have to be your sugar momma too."

Luke chuckled. "That could work. You certainly are sweet enough."

Mara smiled and moved into his lap, straddling his legs and whispering silkily, "Yeah, you just love how I taste, don't you?"

"Oh I can't get enough of it;" he said before kissing her while she rubbed his chest, enjoying the feeling of a cotton t-shirt stretched tightly over muscle.

A couple hours later, they were snuggled under a heavy blanket on Luke's bed. Mara was half lying on him, her head and one hand on his chest and her leg thrown over his. "So what are we doing for Thanksgiving in a couple weeks?" asked Mara, suddenly.

Luke shrugged. "I hadn't thought about it. I already told my family I wasn't going to be able to make it home. Maybe I'll just make my own small dinner or one for both of us if you aren't going home."

Mara was running a finger up and down hard lines of his abs as she replied, "I wasn't planning on it. That sounds very nice. A Thanksgiving with just the two of us would be wonderful."

Luke smiled as he brushed his hands affectionately up and down her back, reveling in the smooth, silky skin. Mara looked up at him and asked, "When is Wedge getting back."

Luke frowned. "I'm not sure but it shouldn't be for awhile. Why?"

Mara climbed up and kissed him again before pinning his hands beside his head. Luke's eyes widened. "Again?!"

Mara smirked. "Can you handle it?"

Luke grinned back and flipped them over.

* * *

Students were starting to get antsy since finals were coming up. Most were anxiously awaiting the holidays. It wouldn't be too many more weeks before Christmas Break and the others were already talking about their plans. Luke and Mara hadn't discussed holiday plans but they both thought about it quite a bit, wanting to be able to spend time together and introduce each other to their families but they were both afraid of pressuring the other.

One weekend found them sweaty, still breathing heavily and utterly content as they cuddled together under a blanket. Luke's eyes were open but not focused and his ridiculous grin was testament to his satisfaction so Mara decided to go for it. "So what do you want to do for Christmas, Babe?" she cooed sweetly before kissing him along his jaw and right on the dimple in his chin. Luke smiled and kissed her back before saying, "I was thinking about that myself. It's gonna be hard. I was hoping we'd be able to split time but you live pretty far away from my aunt and uncle."

Mara nodded, continuing to kiss him with tiny little kisses before asking him, "And where do your aunt and uncle live?"

Luke reveled in her ministrations, replying in a low murmur, "About twenty miles south of Eisly, why?"

Mara smiled huge and kissed him soundly, placing a hand on each side of his face to hold him there. After kissing him long enough to see stars for need of oxygen, Mara gasped, "My guardian has a small house - well small for him anyway - in Eisly. I can convince him to have Christmas there so that it will make things a lot easier."

Luke nodded happily. Mara went back to kissing him and look gave a low groan. "Baby, if you keep doing that, you're going to get me all riled up again."

Mara looked up at him. "Really?"

Luke nodded and Mara redoubled her assault on him. "You are insatiable;" murmured Luke.

* * *

They were in study hall that Wednesday and Luke was eating a box of candy. They were hard candies with soft centers and they were called 'Nips'. Naturally, the Rogues saw them and the jokes started flying. "You sure seem to be enjoying those Nips, Luke;" commented Wedge.

Mara snickered. Luke, catching on immediately, blush and said, "Yeah. Nips are my new favorite thing."

"Oh I bet they are;" laughed a couple of the Rogues. Wedge help out a hand. "Can I try some Nips?"

Luke gave him a candy and he popped it in. After a moment he said, "I like them. Nips are great if you just need something to suck on."

More laughter followed. Han and Leia walked up and Leia asked casually, "What are you all laughing about?"

Without missing a bit, Wedge answered, "Luke's obsession with Nips;"

Leia gasped, not even noticing the box of candy. "Wedge! Even if it is true, that's Luke and Mara's business!"

Her reaction caused everyone to fall over laughing. Mara grinned wickedly. There was a small pile of the little candies in front of her so she asked, "Hey Leia, want some of my Nips?"

Leia turned red and gasped again. Han, taking pity on his girlfriend, picked up the box and said, "Leia, their candies. See?"

Leia studied the box and turned even more red. "You guys are terrible!" she said, but she was laughing now too and her and Han sat down. With a smile, Leia reached over and took one of Mara's Nips. "Thank, I would love your Nips."

Mara winked, "I'll have more for you if you come by later."

Luke whined, "Wait, I thought you only shared your Nips with me."

Mara just looked at him. "Don't be greedy, Farmboy. I have plenty of Nips to go around."

Everyone listening in was laughing so hard that they were hiccupping. Leia, between giggles, said, "If you share with me, I'll share with you. I hear they can taste different."

Winter suddenly came up behind them and said, "If you're sharing yours with Leia, you won't mind if I share mine with Luke, do you Mara?"

Mara winked and said, "Sure but save some for me. I might enjoy those Nips too."

"Maybe the three of us should all just share our Nips with Luke. He'd like that, I'm sure. He does really like his sweets;" giggled Mara.

Luke suddenly blushed and clamped his mouth shut. They all looked at him expectantly and he checked his watch. Clearing his throat, he said, "It's twelve fifty. I have class. See you all later;" and he took off.

"Sometimes, just sometimes, I wish Luke would say the stupid thing that most guys would say;" said Winter with a sigh. The other two nodded in agreement before they dispersed to their classes.

 **Updated 10/15/2018**


	11. Chapter 11

Luke looked at everything one more time. His heart was pounding and he was sweating a little. Everything HAD to be perfect. The turkey was cut up nicely and everything was laid out - from the mashed potatoes to the cranberries. He had water in glasses and, thanks to Han, even had a decent bottle of wine smuggled into his dorm room. Getting the fold out table in had been tricky. He had pushed everything he could as far to the side as possible and it was all ready. He began to put on some quiet music - classical stuff that he knew Mara would appreciate. That done, he settled down to wait. It was only minutes before the door buzzer sounded. Luke answered as casually as possible, "Hello;"

"Hello? That's it? Hello?" came Mara's voice in mock offense. "Were you expecting someone else, Farmboy? Let me in!"

Luke chuckled and headed down, checking his clothes one more time. He was wearing nice slacks, a button down shirt and even a tie. He hoped to high heaven that he didn't overdue it. When he saw Mara, he knew he hadn't. In fact, he wished that he had worn nicer pants at least. She wore a long black dress and over it, a fashionable coat. They both stared at each other for several long moments before Luke cleared his throat and croaked, "Please come in."

Mara nodded and said, "Right - in, yes."

Luke closed the door behind her and took her coat. The dress was perfect for her, hugging her body nicely and flattering her best physical features. "You look stunning, Mara."

She smiled and said, "Thank you. You look pretty sharp yourself."

He blushed and muttered, "I feel really under dressed."

She swatted him lightly and said, "Stop it. You look very handsome and I wore this to wow you not to make you feel under dressed. Mmmm... that smells so good."

When they got to the room, Mara stopped, awestruck at the sight. There were two settings and all the traditional food for Thanksgiving - turkey, dressing, potatoes, sweet potatoes and so on. There was a crock pot of hot cider with cinnamon sticks in it as well as a bottle of red wine. "Oh Luke;" she breathed.

Her reaction was everything Luke could have hoped for. He smiled and took her hand. "Come on. You don't want it to get cold, do you?"

Mara allowed him to lead her over to the table and he pulled out her chair for her. "What would you like to drink?"

She cleared her throat and said, "Cider please and could I also have a glass of water?"

Luke nodded, setting a mug of hot cider and a glass of cold water in front of her. They sat across from each other and Mara looked a little sheepish. "Do you usually say grace over thanksgiving?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah. You?"

Mara nodded. She said a poem that her adopted father would say and then Luke said another that his uncle and aunt had taught him. With that, they dug in. Luke served Mara everything, much to her amusement and appreciation. For some time, they sat in companionable silence, just enjoying the food and being together but after awhile, they conversed about everything, learning more about each other. They were both starved for knowledge of the other, wanting to know everything there was to know. After an hour of steady conversation and eating, they both pushed their plates back. "That was wonderful, Luke;" Mara said. "Thank you for doing this for us. I really enjoyed it."

Luke smiled as he gathered the dishes. "I'm glad to hear that, especially sense I had to buy some pies from the store. I'm not much of a baker."

Unable to pass up on the opportunity to tease him, Mara sighed sadly, "That just ruined the entire experience, Farmboy. I guess I should just go back to my dorm now."

Luke blushed and looked away and Mara giggled, "Luke you are too easy to tease. I'm kidding. Even store bought pies couldn't ruin my day. Where did you get them from?"

"That little bakery down the road;"

Mara smiled with pleasure. "I love that place. I can't eat pie right now. Let's let our food settle for a bit."

Luke agreed and they moved to their favorite place to lounge and relax: Luke's bed. They turned off the music and put on an audio book he had recently bought. This one was the _Scarlet Letter_ , a story that they both found guilty pleasure in and if their friends knew, they would probably both be teased viciously since the _Scarlet Letter_ was one of the most hated books ever assigned in a literature class. As they snuggled together and listened, Mara contemplated her boyfriend. Luke had worked hard on the meal and it had turned out so well. Everything had been delicious and, of course, there was still plenty left over. He had done this for her; well, for them but all the subtle details and such she felt was for her. The place settings were dishes and not paper plates which she was sure he would have used if it was just for him. The sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes were real and not canned or powdered. The turkey, or more accurately half of a turkey, was basted and roasted. The cranberries were not from a can either. She looked up at Luke and found that he was gazing at her. She nudged him with a playful smile and said, "What are you looking at?"

Luke kissed her brow and murmured, "The most beautiful woman I have ever seen - EVER."

Mara smiled and kissed his lips. "You're just saying that because you have to."

Luke shook his head vigorously. "No, I'm saying that because I get to. I'm the luckiest guy on campus. Lando Calrissian knows it. Vak Somoril knows it. Derran Takkar knows it. The entire campus knows it. I get to call you beautiful in the privacy of one of our apartments without anyone else around while we listen to music or audio books or watch tv."

Mara was surprised and touched by his fervor. She smiled and kissed him again. "I think I'm pretty lucky myself. No other guy would do something like this for me;" she said, indicating the remnants of their dinner. "It means a lot to me, makes me feel special. I wish I could do stuff like this for you."

Luke smiled and kissed her before saying, "You do plenty for me, love."

After a few more moments of silence, she stood and smiled at him. "I guess I should stick with what I'm good at, huh?"

Luke stood and said, "You're good at a lot of things, Mara. Care to be more specific?"

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him with as much fervor and affection she could. When they both pulled away for want of air, she stepped away and said in a breathless voice, "Have that heavy blanket ready cause it's a little chilly in here and I'm about to be colder."

Luke's blue eyes went huge as she lowered the dress, allowing it to pool around her feet.

* * *

It was getting late and Luke had to turn the heat up just a little and, looking out the window, Luke smiled. The snow was slowly drifting down through the fading daylight and it was beautiful. From behind him, Mara said, "I just realized something."

Luke turned around and went back to her, snuggling back under the blanket with her as he asked, "What's that, Babe?"

Mara grabbed her IPhone and went through the music until she found what she wanted. Setting the phone down, she climbed atop Luke and began to sing quietly along. "Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful..."

Luke smiled at her and wrapped his arms around her bare waist, reveling in the warmth of her silky smooth skin. Suddenly, they were interrupted by Luke's phone going off. Mara turned the music way down and Luke looked at the caller ID. With a smile, he answered the phone. "Hello, Aunt Beru. Happy Thanksgiving."

The motherly voice of his aunt replied warmly, "Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Dear. Did you have a good Thanksgiving today? Did the cafeteria serve good food?"

Luke chuckled at her anxious voice. "I dunno if they did but I certainly am having a great Thanksgiving. I made dinner for Mara and myself. It was quite nice."

"Oh! Is Miss Jade with you right now?"

Luke suddenly felt uneasy. "Yes she is. We were listening to some Christmas music and enjoying watching the snow fall."

"May I talk to her?" asked his Aunt eagerly. Luke stuttered, "Um... you want to talk to her?"

Suddenly, Mara grinned and reached for the phone. "Let me talk to your Aunt, Luke."

Before he could pull out of reach, Mara snatched it and said, "Hello?"

A very warm voice filled with barely contained excitement said, "Hello, is this Miss Jade?"

"Please call me Mara. Is this Luke's Aunt, Beru Lars?"

"It is. I've been looking forward to talking to you for awhile now. Did Luke do okay on the Thanksgiving dinner?"

Mara grinned at Luke's anxious face and said, "You would be very proud of him. It was the best Thanksgiving dinner I've ever had."

Luke blushed and Aunt Beru said, "I'm so happy to hear that. I'm surprised he didn't call for advice, but that's Luke. He's always tried to figure things out for himself."

Mara giggled, "Oh that sure sounds like Luke."

"Yes. Do you mind talking for a little bit, Mara? I would like to know more about you."

Mara looked down at the blanket that covered her naked body and shrugged, "Sure. What would you like to know?"

Aunt Beru sounded pleased as she said, "Just a few things. Where are you from? Stuff like that."

Mara smiled with pleasure and tapped Luke before pointing to the crock of hot cider. Luke got up and filled her mug while she said, "Well I'm an orphan and was adopted by Sheev Palpatine. He raised me with the help of his employees. I came to this university because it has an excellent business program and law program - better than any ivy league school."

"Oh my! You were raised by the Founder, President and CEO of New Order Industries? Luke never told me that."

Mara smiled, "For the most part, I try to keep that quiet. I'm telling you because you're Luke's Aunt and I think you should know who your nephew is dating."

"I appreciate your honesty, Mara. Thank you. Well I honestly just called to wish Luke and you a Happy Thanksgiving. Give him a kiss for me, please and enjoy the rest of your Holiday."

Mara grinned at Luke and said, "I'll do that, Beru. You have a Happy Thanksgiving too."

"Goodbye, Mara."

"Goodbye, Beru."

Mara hung up and Luke was blushing. She laughed and said, "Why are you blushing, Luke? She didn't tell me anything embarrassing."

She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "That was from your Aunt. This is from me;" and she pulled him into a mind numbing kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck and pull him down atop her again.

* * *

An hour later, Mara grabbed her IPhone and dialed a number. Luke was still a little dazed from their intercourse. "Who are you calling?" he asked mildly.

Mara smiled. "My guardian. I want to wish him and his gold digging mistress a Happy Thanksgiving."

Luke chuckled at her. She put the phone to her ear and waited a few moments. "Hello, Ysanna? It's Mara; can you give the phone to Sheev please?"

She was quiet for a moment before saying, "Hello, Sheev. Happy Thanksgiving... Yes I have, thank you. Luke made us a dinner as good as any that the cooking staff could put together... yes, he's right here..."

Luke's blue eyes shot wide and he began shaking his head vigorously and mouthed 'no' repeatedly. Mara grinned wickedly and said, "Of course. He'd love to talk to you. Please be nice to him, Sheev. I really like this one."

She handed Luke the phone and he took it gingerly, as if handling a poisonous reptile and said hesitantly, "Hello, this is Luke Skywalker;"

A dry, cracking voice came from the other end. "Good evening, Mister Skywalker. I hope that you had a Happy Thanksgiving."

Luke gulped, his throat suddenly dry. He was talking to quite possibly the wealthiest man on the planet. "Thank you, Sir. I did. Happy Thanksgiving to you as well;"

"I'm glad we have a moment to talk, my young friend. I believe that it is long overdue considering that you have been involved with my adopted daughter for several months now. Please tell me about yourself, Mister Skywalker."

Luke cleared his throat and glanced at Mara. The affectionate smile on her face strengthened Luke's confidence and he said, "I will but please call me Luke, Sir. I was raised by my Uncle and Aunt on a farm near Eisly and went to school in the local town. I came to this university because of its Criminal Justice program."

The dry voice sounded pleased. "A noble pursuit indeed, Luke; Mara speaks very highly of you so I will not give you the usual fatherly warnings and threats."

Even with the humor in his cracked voice, Luke had to gulp. A man as powerful as Sheev Palpatine could destroy him and his family without any evidence, though Luke doubted he would actually do that. Sheev broke into his thoughts, saying, "Mara has convinced me to spend Christmas in our home outside of Eisly so that you can split time between your family and hers. I look forward to meeting you in person."

"Thank you, Sir. The pleasure will be all mine, I'm sure."

"Tell Mara I love her and please give her a kiss for me;" said the cracked voice, just a tiny amount of humor and mischief infusing it.

Luke grinned and said, "Of course, Sir. It was a pleasure to speak with you. Please enjoy the rest of your holiday."

"You as well, my young friend; Goodbye."

The line went dead. To Luke's surprise, Mara looked a little anxious. "Well?" she asked, her hands clasped together.

Luke smiled and kissed her forehead. "That was from Mr. Palpatine;" and then, with a mischievous grin, he gave her a huge kiss before saying, "That was from me."

Mara giggled and said, "Another kiss like that, and I might have to jump you again."

"Promises, promises, Mara;"

She cocked a perfectly groomed eyebrow and then jumped on him, tackling him to the bed and kissing him almost violently. As they got carried away once again, Luke absently decided that he had oh, so much to be thankful for this year. That was wiped from his mind though when Mara's kisses traveled from his lips back to the side of his neck.

* * *

By the time they were done that third time, it was late and Mara had no inclination whatsoever to leave. She looked at Luke and grinned. "Tomorrow, you and I are going Black Friday shopping, just so you know."

Luke stifled a groan. He hated shopping. "Do we have to?"

"Yes. Be a good boy and come quietly and I'll reward you for your good behavior."

Luke sighed and nodded. "Alright, I'll go quietly."

Mara patted his cheek and cooed, "That's a good boy. Now how about some of that pie? All this rigorous activity is making a little hungry again."

 **Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I know it's a day late but even so, I hope you enjoyed. Love you guys. Please read and review.**

 **Updated 10/15/2018**


	12. Chapter 12

Luke tried his very best not to grumble and to be cheerful but, good grief, he hated shopping and Black Friday shopping, he suspected, was the worst shopping of the year. But Mara really wanted to go and Luke wanted her to be happy so he smiled and followed her around the mall, carrying her bags and doing whatever he could to maintain a good attitude. To his surprise, he actually began to enjoy himself after an hour's steady going. They had started after breakfast at around eight in the morning and had gone into almost every store in the mall by the time two P.M. rolled around. Both of them were lugging their third arm load of stuff to Luke's car - which had a fresh paint job and new, legitimate license plates on them. The dozens of tiny cars that signified his victories were gone now and the car was a dark silver-gray color. Now it was filled, both the trunk and the back seats, with bags from there shopping trip. Mara surveyed their handiwork with pride. Luke gave a low whistle and said, "We spent a ridiculous amount of money."

Mara nodded and pulled out a stack of receipts. "Yup, but if you look at these receipts here, you find that we saved over twice the amount we spent. Not only that, you have enough new and more fashionable clothing items to fill a dresser drawer and at least half your closet, you have a new coat - one that looks a whole lot nicer than that carhart - and have several new video games, movies and television series seasons. Oh and a whole new set of tools that I question whether you really need but can still see the use in."

Luke chuckled. Mara had bought a new purse, several scarves, a new watch, some jewelry, a couple movies and video games of her own, some CD's and numerous gift cards and gifts for her friends and family. Unknown to Luke, she also ducked into a underwear/lingerie store and picked out a few items she was certain he would enjoy while he was perusing the tools in the store across the hallway. She had also forced Luke to get some workout clothing that actually fit, saying that there was no point in working out if you didn't show off the results of the hard work. Grudgingly, Luke agreed, knowing full well that an argument would be futile.

Mara grinned at him and said, "Alright so what do you want to do for lunch? I'm absolutely starving."

Luke nodded and re-locked his car before heading back towards the mall, Mara's arm around his. After lunch, they noticed that a movie was playing in the theater so they went and saw it. The place was empty and they spent thirty minutes after it was over making out and talking nothing to each other. One of the custodians had to yell at them to leave and, when they finally got into the light of day again, Luke had to duck into the men's room to wash the lipstick off his face - and his neck - and his ears. He came out clean but blushing and grinning like an idiot.

As they went back to his car, Mara said, "There is one place left that we need to go and then we can be done. Best-Buy's the last stop, Farmboy."

Luke almost blanched at the thought. "Babe, Best-Buy is still going to be crazy. Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Mara nodded. "Yes. There are a couple things I need to pick up and finish my Christmas shopping. It won't be that bad - it's like five pm. I'll be fine - especially if a big strong man comes with me."

Luke chuckled and shook his head, knowing, once again, that arguing with her would be so much wasted time. They got to the store and it seemed a little busy but not too bad. "I'll be back, Baby. Go see if there's anything you want;" said Mara, planting a kiss on his cheek before giggling and wiping the lipstick away again.

Luke chuckled and found a few more CD's, games and movies that he wanted. After taking them, paying for them and rushing out to the car, he rushed back in and began looking around. Mara was walking toward him, a large gift box in her arms. Suddenly, a man walked up and grabbed her box. Luke saw red for two seconds and he ran over. "Hey. What the hell are you doing?" he snapped angrily.

"I wanna see what she has, kid;" said the other customer. He had the look of desperation and anger in his eyes and Luke didn't like it.

In a voice that was all too calm, he said, "Take your hands off, or I'll take your hands off."

He and the man locked eyes. The man gritted, "This is none of your-"

"THIS," Luke snarled, "is my girlfriend. That MAKES it my business. Now take. Your. Hands. OFF!"

Mara was a little nervous. She didn't want to be one of THOSE shoppers who got into fights over stupid things. Suddenly, two large hands planted themselves on the irate man's shoulders. "You're leaving buddy - without the boxes."

Luke remained protectively between the customer and Mara until the two police officers had the offender safely out of the door, shooting death glares at them the whole time. Mara smiled and said, "Thanks. My hero - now shew. I need to pay for this."

Luke shook his head resolutely. "Uh-uh; I'm not letting you out of my sight."

She sighed and said, "Luke, in this box is your Christmas present. The surprise is already partially spoiled so please let me pay for this without a fuss. Look, everyone else is being perfectly reasonable."

Luke looked around and saw that she was right. Even so, he was still hesitant. Suddenly, a cheerful voice came from nearby. "Actually, why don't you just give me the receipt and have him turn around and not look. We won't say what it is and we'll keep it in the box."

It was a kid, probably not even out of high school. He was grinning ear to ear and Mara said, "That would be great. Thank you."

Luke stayed nearby but made sure he didn't look until Mara said, "Right, I'm ready, Luke. Let's head back to campus."

* * *

They dropped off the bags at Mara's apartment before heading back to the storage unit where Luke kept his car and carrying his bags back to his dorm. When they got there, Luke put all the stuff on the table and plopped down on his bed with a tired yet satisfied sigh. Mara crawled into his arms and said, "You're not going to fall asleep on me, are you?"

Luke chuckled and said, "Maybe for just a few minutes."

Mara gave a tiny little growl and jabbed her finger into his chest. "No! Up, up, up. You have to model all your new clothes for me."

"WHAT?" Luke asked in surprise, waking up a little. "I don't think so. You saw me try all of them on already!"

"Come on, Farmboy. If you do, then so will I."

Luke chuckled and said, "Yes but I got more clothing then you did - which is kinda sad now that I say it. It's not quite fair."

Mara gave a promising grin and whispered conspiratorially. "It is when you see what I got; I didn't show you everything, you know."

Luke studied and said, "Really? What all did you get?"

Mara shook her head. "No, no. It's a surprise! Now go on and get changed."

Luke was still a little hesitant but complied, trying on everything that he got for her. She would giggle and whistle and bat her lashes at him and comment on how good he looked and how stylish he was - to which he would blush profusely and mumble a thanks before trying on the next thing. When he was all done, he sat back down next to her. Mara ruffled his sandy blond hair and cooed, "See, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

Luke chuckled, "No not at all I suppose."

Mara winked at him and snuggled up to him again. "Tomorrow I'll return the favor. I got a few new things, some pajamas and a few... other things... that I think you'll _really_ enjoy."

Luke perked up again and said, "I can hardly wait."

Mara smirked and said, "You're really going to like it, I think. Now, I'm hungry. What should we do for dinner?"

Luke pursed his lips and said, "We could order in. What do you think?"

Mara pulled out her Iphone and began to peruse the menus of some of the local restaurants that delivered. When she found one that sounded good to her and that she was sure Luke would like, she looked up to ask him but found him fast asleep. He looked so adorable and peaceful when he was asleep. Brushing his too long hair aside, she kissed one of his temples and ordered the food before snuggling up to him again and singing a sweet love song to him and stroking his rough right hand.

 **Updated 10/15/2018**


	13. Chapter 13

Finals were a blistering time for everyone but the following holiday break gave them something to look forward. Though neither would admit it, both Luke and Mara were nervous about meeting the other's family. Mara was intimidated because they seemed so old fashioned and even, at least in the case of Luke's Uncle Owen, severe. Luke was nervous because Sheev Palpatine was one of the most powerful and wealthiest men on the planet and would probably have an opinion on Mara dating a lowly farm boy. Despite all of this, they did look forward spending the holidays together. During those last weeks, they were only able to spend a very limited amount of time together and when they did, it was rarely more than making out on one of their beds while listening to music or an audio book. That usually carried into passionate love-making since Mara always insisted on wearing clothing that accentuated her amazing figure and then snuggling up to Luke and teasing him incessantly with little kisses and heated words. However, when that last final had been taken and the last bag had been packed, they both took off towards Eisly.

Luke looked in the rear view mirror as the university shrunk behind them. Mara was looking forward down the road, eagerly anticipating the holidays. She loved Christmas and New Years. They were always so cheerful and filled with joy and she was even more excited now because she would get to meet her boyfriend's guardians and see the home he had grown up in. Seeing Sheev would be nice too and she even decided that she would, with good grace, tolerate seeing Sheev's gold-digging mistress, Ysanne Isard. "Whatcha thinking about?" asked Luke, suddenly breaking into her thoughts.

Mara smiled and hugged his right arm, replying as she did, "I am so excited to meet your family. Your aunt sounded so sweet on the phone."

Luke chuckled, not realizing how nervous she was. "I'm glad. Do you like riding horses?"

Mara nodded her head eagerly. "Good. We can probably get some trail riding in if you want."

"That sounds like fun."

They drove through the afternoon and into the evening. Around eight o'clock P.M., they checked into a tiny motel in a one stoplight town. It was neat, clean and there was a diner next door where they ate dinner. That all done, they got ready for bed. Mara decided that she was going to be extra teasing to Luke, wearing a very tight tank top and pink underwear. The farm boy didn't even try to hide the fact that he was constantly staring at her. Every tantalizing curve called to have a hand brushed over it. Luke himself just wore a pair of gym shorts and Mara found the tables turned on her. His muscles were well developed and defined. Mara wanted desperately to touch those muscles. The feeling of his hard muscles covered by a layer of smooth, soft skin was so very wonderful. Immediately, she realized that, without even intending to, he was frustrating her the very way that she was him. Well, if he was going to do that, intentionally or not, she would turn the tables again. She suddenly rolled over to him, took the remote from his hands and straddled his hips and kissed him passionately before asking, "Did you do that on purpose?"

Luke's hands were brushing up and down from her smooth, sexy thighs, up her back and shoulders and then back down again. He questioned between kisses, "Did I do what on purpose?"

Mara shook her head. "Never mind. Just kiss me and screw me already."

* * *

The next day found them heading towards the farm where Luke had grown up. As they got closer, Mara got more and more nervous. At about four p.m. on the second day after they had left the university, Luke pulled onto a very long drive way off a small two lain road surrounded by snow-covered fields. The drive had to be a mile at least but they eventually came to two large red barns and a ranch house. As soon as Luke turned the engine off, a woman came from the house, smiling happily as she walked briskly to the car. Luke grinned and grabbed his bags. He was going to grab Mara's but she took it with a smile. "I can take it, you know. I'm a big girl, Farmboy."

Luke chuckled and murmured, "You don't look all that big."

"Oh Luke, welcome home;" said the woman who Mara assumed was Luke's aunt Beru.

Before he even had the chance, Beru turned to Mara and hugged her too, saying as she did, "Luke, why aren't you taking her bag for her?"

Mara giggled and said, "I didn't let him. Call me independent minded. It's a pleasure to meet you, Missus Lars."

"Oh none of this Misses Lars nonsense, please, young lady. Call me Beru. Welcome to our humble home. Do come in out of the cold. Luke's uncle is actually in Eisly right now picking up a couple parts for the truck. Would you like something hot to drink? We have coffee, cocoa, tea or anything you'd like. Also, would you like something to eat?"

Luke chuckled as his aunt doted on Mara almost as much as he did. Mara took it all in stride, smiling pleasantly and being the perfect picture of a gracious and wonderful guest. Luke wasn't at all surprised. She could adapt to any situation at all with perfect grace. It was one of the things he strongly admired about her.

When they were all at the kitchen table, Aunt Beru and Mara chatted about Luke, embarrassing him thoroughly. Beru talked about his younger years and the trouble he got into and Mara did everything she could to say things that would express how well Beru and Owen had raised him. Luke just sat quietly, switching between blushing from embarrassment do to his younger shenanigans or blushing do to the high praise Mara kept delivering on his behalf. Suddenly, the door flew open and in stumped a grizzled looking man with stubble all over his craggy face. Luke stood up and said, "Hello, Uncle."

Owen Lars smiled and said, "Ah, Luke. Glad you're back, boy. Hope you're not expecting to skip out on work while you're here."

Luke chuckled. His uncle was never going to change. "Of course not."

Owen gave him a stiff hug and said, "Good, good. Tomorrow should be a fairly easy day, though. Just milk the cows and help me change out some parts on that old truck. But that's tomorrow. Introduce me to this lovely young lady."

Luke smiled and said, "Uncle, this is Mara Jade, my girlfriend. Mara, this is my Uncle Owen."

Mara stood and shook his hand. "It's a pleasure, Mr. Lars;" she said with a bright smile.

Owen chuckled, "Pleasure's all mine, Miss Jade but please call me Owen."

"Only if you call me Mara;" she replied politely.

Owen chuckled and said, "I was glad to hear that Luke found someone. It's good that he has someone who can keep him focused on school."

Mara laughed and said, "Actually, he helps me stay focused on school. Luke has gotten nothing but A's the whole semester."

Owen chuckled as he got up and poured himself some coffee. Without turning around, he ever so casually asked, "So will you two be needing your own rooms or are you sharing?"

Luke blushed and groaned while Mara looked at him, turning as red as a rose. Beru gasped, "Owen!"

Luke's uncle turned around grinning. "It's a fair question, Honey."

Beru looked at him severely and said, "I prepared two rooms just in case. I won't be offended if the second one isn't used. Do whatever you two are comfortable with."

Luke groaned and Mara was staring into her cup of coffee, blushing madly. Both Owen and Beru, seeing their embarrassment, burst into good-natured chuckles. It was infectious and soon the two college students were laughing too. These were going to be fun holidays.

 **Updated 10/15/2018**


	14. Chapter 14

The first morning on the Lars' farm, Mara woke up when the bed shifted beneath her. She looked up through hooded eyes to see Luke getting into durable blue jeans, a flannel shirt and a Carhart coat. "Hey," she murmured, "where'er you goin'?"

Luke went over to her and kissed her before whispering, "I need to go get some work done - namely milking the cows. I'll see you at breakfast. Go back to sleep."

Mara nodded and puckered her lips for one more kiss before Luke headed out and she snuggled back into the heavy quilts, falling asleep almost instantly. When she woke again, there was light coming in through a gap in the curtains. Quickly, she put a dressing robe over her rather scant pajamas and hurried to the kitchen. There was Owen, Beru and Luke, all talking quietly so as not to disturb her. Beru smiled pleasantly and said, "Good morning, Dear. Would you like some breakfast?"

Mara crossed her arms over herself and said, "Yes please;" as she went over and sat by Luke, kissing him on the cheek as she sat down. "Have fun with the cows?" she asked quietly.

Luke chuckled and nodded. Beru laid the table with a big platter of fried eggs, sausage, hashbrowns and some fruit. Mara wondered how on earth all the food would be eaten since neither she nor Beru ate that much. Luke and Owen each ate four eggs, four pieces of sausage and a huge helping of hashbrowns before eating some of the fruit. When they were finished, Luke asked, "So, what needs done on that old truck?"

Owen sipped his coffee before replying, "Changing up the tires for winter, putting new break pads on, changing the oil filter and the spark plugs and a couple of the belts and hoses too;"

Luke chuckled and said, "Oh is that all?"

Mara piped up, "Mind if I join you? I love learning new things and I don't know much about working on cars."

"Of course;" said Owen with a smile. "I think it's important for everyone to know a few of these things. It saves money and that way, you don't have to wait on someone else. Dress warm and I hope you brought some clothes you don't mind getting dirty in."

Mara blushed and looked down into her glass. Luke couldn't help it. He started to chuckle into his hand and Beru said, "Don't worry, Dear. I'm sure we can find something for you. Luke, be nice to your girlfriend!"

Luke suppressed his laughter and nodded while Mara turned to him and cocked a perfectly groomed eyebrow. "Something funny, Luke?"

Before he could answer, she turned to Beru and said, "You know, if that second bed room is open, I might move my stuff over to it later."

Beru nodded and said, "Hmmm... maybe a night alone in a bed will teach my nephew some manners."

Uncle Owen was chuckling and Luke was trying to think of a way to apologize when Aunt Beru started gathering dishes. With a cheerful smile, Mara said, "Here, let me help with that, Beru;" and she leaned down next to Luke and said, "Dog house. Do something about it." before she took both their dishes and walked over to the sink, a sway in her hips that was impossible to miss.

Beru looked at Luke with a twinkle in her eyes and a smirk on her lips while Uncle Owen sighed and said, "Soon as those dishes are done, we'll take care of the truck."

When they went out, Mara was wearing a pair of sweat pants loaned to her by Beru and one of Luke's old T-shirts, a pair of muck boots and a coat that Luke had grown out of but still was a little big for Mara. She was blushing as they went out and Luke whispered, "Are you feeling alright?"

Mara sighed and shrugged self consciously. "I look ridiculous."

"No!" said Luke, squeezing her hand. "You look amazing as always. Come on. You might actually enjoy this."

Mara looked at him and said, "You're just saying that to convince me not to move my things to the other room, aren't you?"

Luke shook his head vigorously and said, "Of course not I'm not. Even if you aren't fashionably dressed at the moment like you usually are, you're still beautiful and you always will be."

"Nice try, Luke, but take it from me - it's going to take a lot more than smooth words to get back on her good side;" chuckled Owen gruffly.

They gathered around the vehicle. "Luke, go ahead and jack the truck up. Mara, take these jack stands and make sure that its well support when Luke tells you. We're starting with the breaks and the tires."

Mara found that she really enjoyed the work. Luke showed her on one side and then she followed his example on the other as he walked her through it. While they did that, Owen was working on the oil filter. He was finished by the time Luke and Mara had changed out the breaks and put on winter tires on the front of the truck. Uncle Owen was pleased and he said, "Alright, the back breaks are a little different. Jack her up and we'll go from there."

This time, Mara used the jack and Luke placed the stands. When they were ready, Uncle Owen walked each of them through since Luke's car breaks were not the same as the trucks. It took all morning to get the work done and they were shivering and sputtering when it was time to go in for lunch. Beru was on the phone with a friend but hung up with a cheerful smile. "I have lunch ready - sandwiches and soup so you can warm up. I put on fresh hot water for tea and cocoa as well a fresh pot of coffee. Since you're all done with your work, what are we doing today? Would you like to help us finish decorating for Christmas?"

They nodded from where they shivered, cuddled up next to the radiator with thick blankets around them. Mara was securely wrapped in Luke's arms for warmth and around them both was a large, soft quilt. Only their heads were visible above the blanket it. When the lunch was prepared, they went to the table and ate. The rest of the day was spent hanging up Christmas decorations and such. After dinner, they watched a seasonal movie together. Aunt Beru was on a rocking chair knitting a blanket for her good friend's granddaughter and Owen sat in a reclining arm chair chewing tobacco and doing a crossword trouble. Luke and Mara were both cuddled up beneath another blanket stretched out on the couch. Unbeknownst to the two elders, Luke and Mara were teasing and petting one another beneath the blanket, getting one another all riled up. As soon as the movie was over, they both sat up and yawned. "Well, I'm gonna turn in tonight. Gotta be up early to milk the cows again tomorrow."

Mara agreed. "Me too. All that work has worn me out."

Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru shared a most knowing look before the latter said, "Well sleep good then. We're having pancakes for breakfast with bacon and scrambled eggs just so you know."

Uncle Owen casually said, "Just keep your carrying on down, please."

"OWEN!" gasped Aunt Beru and the two youngsters rushed off to bed, blushing fiercely.

When they got to the room, Mara grinned wickedly and gathered her stuff, saying as she did. "You still haven't done anything to get yourself out of the doghouse, Farmboy. I guess you don't want to sleep in the same bed as me or else you would have done something about it."

Luke, who was frustrated by Mara's unseen ministrations during the movie, gaped and sputtered, "But - but how am I gonna do that?"

Mara shrugged and said, "I dunno. That's for you to figure out. In the mean time, sleep tight;" and she left the room, leaving Luke dismayed. After changing into some comfortable clothes, he went into the other room. Mara was brushing her teeth in the bathroom and Luke went up behind her and wrapped his arm around her. "I'm sorry I was such a horrible boyfriend this morning. I wasn't laughing at you, just at the realization that you didn't have messy clothes. Would you ever forgive me?"

Mara spat the toothpaste and said, "Getting there."

Luke kissed the side of her neck and said, "If it's any consolation, you look amazing whatever you're wearing - or not wearing as the case may be."

Mara couldn't help but grin even as she said, "Oh please. You can do better than that."

Luke kissed the side of her neck again and thought about what to say. She headed back to the room and stood by her piled things with her arms crossed, waiting with a tapping foot for him to think of something sweet to say. Finally, Luke sighed and slumped with defeat. "I guess I'm not all that eloquent. I'll see you in the morning baby."

Mara watched him go before saying, "Wait for me, you dork. At least help me carry my stuff back."

Luke was grinning ear to ear as he took all of her gear back. She climbed into the bed and said, "You are fortunate that I'm in a gracious mood or else I would have decided to make you suffer for being so mean to me this morning and laughing at me. Honestly, I wasn't raised to have dirty clothes to do mechanic stuff in."

Luke was listening from the bathroom as he brushed his teeth. When he was finished, he said, "You and I are from different lifestyles, baby. I'm not mocking you. Your reaction to my uncle's statement about messy clothes was what was making me chuckle."

Mara narrowed her eyes and said, "You're not just saying that to placate me, are you?"

Luke looked at her with mock shock and hurt. "I would never do such a thing to you."

She giggled and relented, laying back and saying, "Well then get over here and warm me up. Hey, do you think your Uncle and Aunt realized what we were doing under that blanket?"

Luke slipped under the blankets and wrapped his arms around her. "Well those couple times you moaned might have given it away."

Mara elbowed him lightly. "It's not my fault. You just make me feel good."

"Allow me to make you feel good some more then;" said Luke, his voice a low, husky timber.

Mara moaned and said, "Please do."

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, Mara received a phone call. When she hung up, she said, "That was Sheev, my guardian. He was hoping that Luke and I could make it to dinner tonight. I hope that's alright."

Aunt Beru nodded. "Of course, Dear. You must see your family too. Luke, do you have the clothes that you will need or is Mara going to have to take you shopping?"

Luke hadn't even thought about that. It was his turn to blush in embarrassment and he glanced at Mara, expecting a smirk but Mara was just excited about taking him shopping. "It's okay, Luke. We'll leave after lunch and make sure we get you a nice suit to wear. I could use a new dress myself."

Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru chuckled at the look of glee on Mara's face and the look of relief on Luke's.

In Eisly, there were limited options. However, they found a small shop that sold nice clothes and found everything they needed. When it came time to go to Mister Palpatine's house, Luke was so nervous that his usually considerable appetite was gone. The house was large but not exactly a mansion. Luke parked in the spot Mara indicated before hurrying over to her side and assisting her out of the car door. Before her door was even shut, the door to the house opened and out came an elderly man leaning on a black stick and in a black suit. Behind him, a much younger woman in a red dress who had brown hair with a shock of white hair in it, approached gracefully. In a slightly cracked voice, the old man said, "My child, it is so good to see you. I trust finals went well."

Mara smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek before saying, "It's good to see you too and I aced finals, of course."

"Good, good;" said the old man. He turned to face Luke and said, "And who is this strapping young man you bring with you today, my child?"

Mara took Luke's hand and pulled him forward. "This is my boyfriend Luke Skywalker. Luke, this is my adoptive father Sheev Palpatine."

 **Updated 10/15/2018**


End file.
